Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend
by crosstrigger333
Summary: FE7 Sequel to Trials of a Teenage Tactician I was once a normal, nerdy teenager from a modern world. Now I'm a tactician who has to save the world of Elibe from falling into the jaws of a psychopath who can easily wipe out mankind. Weird life, huh?
1. Prologue: Graduation

_A/N: A year ago, I uploaded a story about a normal guy who gets transported into the world of Fire Emblem: Rekka No Ken, and becomes the tactician character that plays through the game plot. I had no idea where it would go, and ended up adding quite a few original subplots and characters. I ended up really enjoying the stuff I came up with, but had only finished the part of the story that involved Lyn. The main part of the story wasn't written yet._

_Now, exactly one year later, I present the sequel to Trials of a Teenage Tactician! Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem and any of its characters or settings._

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend  
**

by crosstrigger333

Prologue: Graduation

"I suppose it's about time we finished this, Sean."

"Bring it," I smirked, getting into a fighting stance with my rapier. I was standing, facing my opponent: a tall, muscular brown-haired male who went by the name of Conner. It was the day of our examination in Pheraean Combat, and Conner and I were facing each other with the rest of the Academy watching. I could feel the sweat dripping off of my brow from the anticipation and the heat.

"Alright, boys," said the fiery-haired instructor. "You will fight until one of you has made contact twice. The one who does wins the match. Also remember that you are not only graded on your winning, but on your technique and use of your surroundings. En Guarde!"

I watched as Conner readied his sword. This was the guy I was going to fight: the best student in the Royal Academy of Pherae in terms of combat and physical ability. I watched as he shifted his weight to accommodate the fighting stance that we had been taught over the course of these past few months. I thought about it and had to chuckle. No way would I have been able to do anything like this when I first arrived here. I had spent these past months in this academy learning to fight, and now I was a master with the sword.

And I was going to show everyone what I'd become.

There was a long pause as the instructor put his arm between us two combatants to separate us. I looked up to see my opponent staring at me, like a predator ready to pounce on his prey. Only this prey was armed and ready to fight back. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and the instructor's arm moved as if it was in slow motion...

"ALLEZ!"

Conner immediately lunged forward with his sword, and I stepped back and parried it. His strike was very quick, but I had honed my reflexes over the course of these few months enough so that even something that fast was instantly avoided. I made my counter attack, a quick jab toward the chest... Touche!

"One contact for Sean," said the instructor. "One more and he wins."

"You've gotten better," said Conner. "Looks like I'll stop holding back so much."

"Like I said, bring it," I told him. I was confident that I could take him on. The match began again. This time, Conner began with a quick thrust, which I dodged and countered. Conner shifted his weight, avoiding the counterattack and moving to the side. I regained my balance and made the next move. My opponent dodged it and proceeded by spinning around me as my momentum carried me forward, and lunged once he got a firm footing. I noticed this as I faced him again, and leaned back, watching as the blade lunged over my face as I dodged below it. It was like slow motion, and I felt my adrenaline pumping.

I caught myself from falling with my left arm, and pushed myself back to a standing position and faced him again. Conner had regained his composure much quicker that I'd anticipated and was already making a low swing with his sword. I made a quick leap into the air, jumping over the arc of the sword swing, and did a nice backflip before landing perfectly on my feet.

And then, before Conner could ready himself again, I thrust my rapier forward, catching him on the shoulder.

"Touche," I smirked. "That's two hits. I win."

The instructor smiled. "Sean wins the match!"

I suddenly heard the cheer of a crowd, and looked around to see the students of the academy rushing toward me from the bleachers. I noticed one girl in particular, who jumped on top of me and threw her arms around me. "Congratulations, Sean," she whispered in my ear.

I smiled and hugged her back. "Thanks, Lyn. I really did it. I never need to be protected by you anymore..."

She responded to that by starting to unbutton my shirt. "Oh, I think you will," she chuckled coyly. I'm pretty sure my face was turning red now to her response. I felt her slide my shirt off, not paying attention to the other people watching. "L-Lyn..." I began, but she silenced me with a kiss. The crowd began a chant as the scene unfolded.

"Wake up Sean! Wake up Sean! Wake up Sean!"

* * *

"Wake up, Sean!" I heard the voice of my friend snapping me out of my dream. That's right, my _dream._ That entire thing with the fight and the crowd and the girl was all part of some elaborate fantasy that my unconscious mind cooked up so that I could wake up feeling like crap.

Sometimes, I hate my subconscious.

"Thanks, Chloe," I muttered, sitting up on my bed to face her. "Jeez, do you know how good a dream I was having?"

"Actually, I do," she giggled. "You were moaning Lady Lyndis' name and making very pleasurable sounding noises."

I _really_ hate my subconscious.

"You also sounded like you were challenging Conner," she told me. "Sean, it has been three weeks since he defeated you in that sword fight. Face it, you are no match for him in combat."

Okay, back to reality. I was _not_ a master of the sword as I was in my dream. What had actually happened that day was more like...

* * *

"En Guarde! ALLEZ!"

3... 2... 1...

"Conner wins the match!"

* * *

Combat was not my strong suit. Actually, I never really had much of a strong suit, apart from my above average brain. I suppose that's why Professor Dumas sent me to Elibe as a _tactician_, not a fighter. All because I beat him in a freakin' chess game.

Okay, for those of you who feel completely lost right now, I'll give a brief recap of my previous adventure. My name is Sean Masters, 18-year-old male born in January. Some time ago, I was an ordinary teenager with little-to-no athletic ability, but a pretty sharp sense of math and logic, and a pretty good chess player. I came from a modern world, where people my age who possessed such qualities were labeled "nerds". Because of such a labeling, it was pretty hard for me to find someone of the opposite gender to notice me, and so for all eighteen freaking years of my life, I had never had a girlfriend. Honestly, I think there might have been some genetic code malfunction that prevents me from being able to talk to girls... but I digress.

My life completely changed when I met Professor Edmond Dumas. After helping him move into my neighborhood, he challenged me to a game of chess, promising me that if I beat him, he would introduce me to a beautiful girl who would actually notice my talents. Well, he kept his promise, but left out one small detail: That girl was from a different world. After beating him in that chess game, he transported me to said world, telling me that I was to be a tactician whose destiny was to save Elibe. I blacked out, and who should I meet when I woke up but Lyn, the most amazing young woman in existence.

Anyway, I traveled with Lyn through this medieval world of Elibe and met up with several other people who all came to travel with us, and after practicing being a tactician against hoardes of stupid bandits, we found ourselves caught in the midst of an inheritance dispute between Lyn and her granduncle, Lord Lundgren. See, apparently Lyn was the only surviving heir to the throne of the Lycian territory of Caelin after the current marquess, Lord Hausen, passes away, and when Lundgren found out about her existence, he sent a bunch of assassins to kill her. Yeah, not fun. Eventually, we pulled through and Lyn was able to save her grandfather from a slow poisoning that Lundgren had been giving him for months. And after all that, I actually managed to get the girl. That's right, Lyn actually fell for me and we kissed. Go me!

That was 9 months ago. At this point in time, I was studying at the Royal Academy of Pherae with my only friend there, Chloe Eagler. That is, I was _not_ in Caelin with Lyn, I was in Pherae. Why? The answer is that I was getting a formal education in strategy from a man named Darius. Or, as he was known in the country of Bern, Lord Darius the Black Shadow. He was the most renowned tactician in Bern, said to be a genius in the art of war. I got to witness a sample of it firsthand when I played him in chess and we had to end in a draw. He wanted me as his apprentice, and was willing to do anything to get to me. I couldn't risk his genius against my untrained mind, so to protect Caelin, I agreed. Darius became a temporary instructor at the Royal Academy of Pherae, and I became a student there.

It wasn't all bad. I mean, with his training, I learned a lot about the art of war, and apparently, I was progressing fast. Of course, in 9 months, there was no way I'd reach the level of genius, but hey, I don't think I was doing too badly.

Unfortunately, that was only in strategy. In anything that involved physical prowess, I sucked. My little-to-no athletic ability was still there, as evidenced by my needing to concoct an elaborate fantasy scenario to make myself feel better about failing a combat lesson. At some point, I think I should've realized I was dreaming. What the hell were bleachers doing in that room?

"Sean, it's getting late," laughed Chloe. "We were supposed to be at the banquet ten minutes ago and you are still not ready yet!" At that moment, I realized that Chloe was dressed much more formally at that moment. Her sea green hair was down over her shoulders, and she was wearing the same indigo dress she wore during the celebration of Lyn's arrival at Caelin. Honestly, she was looking pretty damn good in it as well.

"Oh, shit," I immediately rolled off the bed and started rummaging through my clothes for my formal wear, before realizing that Chloe was still in my room. "Uh, Chloe, you mind?" I asked. The girl chuckled a bit before getting up.

"I'll be waiting for you downstairs," she told me, and left the room. Chloe, like I said, was my only friend at the academy. Turns out that the labeling I had in my world carried over to this world as well when I went to school, yet again making it incredibly difficult for me to make friends when people like Conner ruled the academy student body. I was friends with Chloe because during the battle of Caelin, she was with me in the cell I was captured in, but other than her, it was hard for people to get to know me. It made sense, though. Back home, a "nerd" could get pretty far in life with just intelligence and skills, but in Elibe, physical ability was pretty much required. Once again, I got screwed in that deal.

I found my green dress tunic that made me look like a video game character, and put it on. The formal dress was for the year's Roland's Day banquet, in celebration of the founding of Lycia. It was a big event which brought together all of the students and faculty of the academy, and was also attended by former graduates. There was going to be a big feast and a speech given by the top upperclassman of the academy. This year, it was, not surprisingly, Conner. Yeah, that guy was pretty much perfect. Handsome, strong, smart, and charismatic were the words that most people would use to describe him. He was second to me in strategies and numbers, but pretty much kicked the crap out of me in everything else. Plus, he had that ridiculous charm about him that had every girl in school swooning over him.

_Ah well, who needs them?_ I always told myself. _I already have Lyn._

I rummaged through my clothes and found my gold scarf. As I picked it up, a small familiar piece of jewelry fell out, apparently wrapped in the folds of the scarf.

"Huh, was wondering where you were," I said, picking up the small golden locket. I remembered the day Lyn had told me about that little trinket that she always kept with her. It was one of her only memoirs of her first fiance, Kal, who had died protecting her family during a bandit attack. There were two names engraved on the locket, 'KAL' on one side, and 'LYN' on the other. Yeah, it does seem kind of weird that I'd keep a piece of jewelry that had the name of my crush's ex on it, but I could never throw it away, not under the circumstances that she gave it to me.

"I promised," I smiled, putting the locket around my neck and tucked it under my tunic. I put the scarf on, and then found my dress boots and gloves. Feeling like I was ready, I made my way downstairs to meet up with Chloe.

And then I realized that my belt was still on the bed as I felt my pants slide.

* * *

The banquet hall was a large, spacious ballroom which had several long tables situated parallel to each other, stretching from one end of the room to the other. The food prepared ranged from roast goose to large wild boar to broiled herring, along with a bunch of things that I had no idea what the names were. It really was an annual feast.

Unfortunately, by the time Chloe and I got inside the place was already packed full of people, and finding a place to get food was nearly impossible.

"This is what I get for sleeping?" I muttered. "Fully awake and empty inside?"

Chloe laughed at this, and pointed toward a certain table. "The spot next to Professor Black is open."

In hearing the name, I stopped and looked toward where my friend was pointing. I saw the man who had brought me to this school in the first place casually chewing on a roll. That man, with his fiery orange hair, tall build, and golden eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it is," I responded. Chloe gave me a small smile.

"Sean, I know that you're afraid of him. But he does favor you as a student above everyone else in this academy. I think we should sit with him."

_He's the reason I'm in this academy_, I thought to myself.

"I know that," I told her. "I just don't feel comfortable sitting with the guy." That was an understatement. Sure, he was my teacher and I learned a boatload of strategies from him, but he was still Darius the Black Shadow. He was still the man who kidnapped me, who was willing to start a war between Lycia and Bern because I didn't want to be his apprentice.

"Allow me to finish your decision for you." I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder.

"EEK!" I shrieked, startled. That's right, I shrieked. I'm pretty sure I got some weird looks from everyone who heard my surpisingly high-pitched voice. Hell, I had no idea I could reach that octave.

"Good evening, Professor Black," said Chloe, taking a small bow. I could tell she was stifling a laugh as well.

"Good evening to you too, Miss Eagler," smiled Darius. "I apologize for startling you, Sean."

"N-No problem, Professor," I replied. I swear, it never became any less strange to refer to Darius as a Professor. This was Bern's best tactician, and a really sneaky character, as demonstrated by how he was able to come up behind me.

"Well, moving on," smiled the fiery haired gentleman, "I happen to have some seats near me for two fine students, as well as some extra food in case such students decided to show up late." Like I said, Bern's best tactician. Talk about thinking ahead.

"Thank you very much, Professor," said Chloe excitedly, making her way toward the seats that Darius had reserved for us.

"You really know how to plan ahead," I told him.

"It's not difficult to predict once you closely observe how someone works," said Darius. "I've had nearly half a year of watching you to know how you would be after a Lycian History exam you studied so much for that you only had an hour's worth of rest."

"H-How did you know that?" I asked. Honestly, was this guy stalking me or something? How the hell did he know I had exactly an hour of sleep? Darius just chuckled.

"When you arrived in my class yesterday, it wasn't difficult to see that you were tired," he told me. "I know that you would not seem so worn out had you actually had enough rest. The only thing that could keep a student like you awake for so long was an examination, and even then, only a History examination could possibly make you study so much. It is understandable, seeing as you have never studied it before. And yet, you seemed like you weren't as used to being awake, as if you had just woken up and had no desire to leave the bed. I was left to conclude that you had at most two hours of rest, and so I put my guess at one hour, being the middle of the two extremes. Well, after an ordeal like that, it is entirely understandable that you would be unwilling to part with your bed the next day. Considering Miss Eagler would never attend a gathering while leaving you behind, I knew that both of you would be late."

Yep, I was completely and totally speechless. This guy, Darius, lived up to his name as Bern's finest tactician. It seriously takes a lot of processing power to draw so many conclusions from so little information, and correctly guess the right conclusion afterward. Honestly, I think I was screwed if I ever had to go up against him, tactician against tactician.

"I see I've left you without words," smiled Darius. "Always remember, my apprentice, that a tactician's primary task focuses on information. You must be able to consider as much as possible given very little, since it is rare that you will have very much information presented to you. You must be able to draw many conclusions from what little information you do have, without making forceful leaps of logic, and use those conclusions to plan ahead. Strategy is forged from conclusion. If you can do that successfully, Sean, then you will have become my equal and I will have nothing left to teach you."

I feel like I was one of those little kids who became Buddhist monks, and this was the pebble I had to snatch from my master's hand. This was the level of thinking I had to have to beat this guy. It honestly was not comforting to know that Darius and I would soon have to face each other in battle. I knew about the Black Fang, that group that Darius worked for, and I knew that he was the brains to their brawn. I also knew that the Black Fang was a group that I would never join, seeing what they would do in order to kidnap a young boy and his sister.

"Well, enough talk about strategy, I'm sure you are famished," said Darius. "I must join the other professors. What say you join the Lady Eagler and feast on this fine Roland's Day evening?"

"Y-Yeah," I replied. I think my brain was going into overdrive thinking about how I could possibly face Darius, and some food really did sound good at that moment.

* * *

About half-an-hour later, the entire room stopped eating when we heard the headmaster of the academy called the room to his attention. He was an old man who apparently in his younger years was one of the great scholars of Lycia. He was your typical headmaster: old man in dress robes with tiny spectacles and a big white beard. Seriously, with this guy and Professor "Darius Black" at this academy, I honestly felt like I was part of that book series I loved so much.

And for that reason, I was half-expecting him to be carrying a talking hat on the stage.

"Good evening, students of our Royal Academy," the headmaster began, clearing his throat. "I am pleased to see that the year so far has been good to you all, and that the scores this year have been some of the highest ever seen in our school's history. On this, the annual Roland's Day banquet, we celebrate nearly a millenium of peace in Lycia, and to give the commemorative speech this year is our Academy's finest student: a young man whose strength in his studies and his physical ability sees a fine future for our country. I am proud to introduce my grandson as this year's prefect, Conner MacDougal." At his name, the familiar-looking upperclassman made his way onto the stage as the student body applauded.

I swear, I could hear all the girls in the room heave a sigh. Lucky bastard...

"Thank you, grandfather," said Conner as he took to the podium. "Once, dragon fought man in a war called the Scouring. Mankind vanquished the dragons thanks to the efforts of eight heroes. These eight mighty generals brought peace to Elibe. The continent was divided into nations and the people enjoyed an easy prosperity. The Hero Hartmut settled in the east and founded Bern, famed for its military might. St. Elimine moved west, and her sacred name flourished among the artisans of Etruria. The horseman Hanon's legacy lived on with the nomads of her beloved plains of Sacae. The birthplace of the knight Barigan is now home to the renowned Knights of Ilia. The berserker Durban's final glory was to create a warrior's clan in the Western Isles. The archsage Athos is said to have retired to the barren wasteland of Nabata. And finally, the heirs of the champion Roland themselves became the lords of the Lycian League. Thanks to the efforts of the eight legends, Elibe has enjoyed a peace spanning nearly a millenium, which continues on today."

"Does he realize he only mentioned seven legends?" I whispered to Chloe. She giggled a bit.

"Somehow we always seem to miss the final one," she replied. "Brammimond the Mysterious."

"Just wake me up when it's over," I whispered, putting my head down. I jolted up when I felt Chloe's elbow.

"I'm not letting you fall asleep," she said.

"Why not?" I asked. "This speech is basically from our texts in History class."

"It's not _his_ speech I'm worried about," she told me, smirking. "Because his speech is uninteresting, I'm afraid that the words you speak when you're asleep will catch more attention. I know you won't want that to happen."

I'm pretty sure I felt my face go red, and Chloe couldn't hold back her chuckle. "Oh, Sean, you are too fun to tease," she laughed.

"You're really something, you know that?" I sighed.

For the next few minutes, we listened to Conner talk about the hero Roland, blah blah blah, and his accomplishments in the Scouring, blah blah blah, and how we should be proud to be Lycian and blah blah blah... Honestly, I hate speeches like that. They go on forever, and don't really say anything. Seriously, Conner could have taken the History text, picked a random paragraph, and given a speech and it would've sounded pretty much the same. I knew better than most that day, considering the time I spent reading them for that damn exam. I was about to nod off when...

"Well, well, well, happy Roland's day, ya bunch of scamps!"

Everyone turned toward the obnoxious and gruff sounding voice. It belonged to a large, green-haired unshaven man, carrying a large axe. He was pretty much like the kind of guy we ran into everyday on the way to Caelin, and judging by the guy's clothing (a battered tunic) and his, well, aroma (a bunch of students near him scooted away as far as possible), he wasn't invited.

"Who are you?" demanded the headmaster. "How did you get past the guards?" At that, an arrow whizzed across the room and struck the old man in the chest. "Gah..." he managed to gasp before falling over.

"Grandfather!" cried Conner, and another arrow struck him in the shoulder. The guy fell down grasping his bleeding wound.

"Heh, ain't nothin' we Ganelon bandits can't get past," laughed the archer, a small mouse-like man who was standing behind the big guy.

"Ganelon?!" I gasped.

"S-Sean, you know them?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah, well... not these guys in particular," I told her. "But I met their gang of bandits when I was traveling with Lyn. They pretty much chased us halfway through the Bern mountains."

"Were they dangerous?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied, still taking this in. Something wasn't right about this whole ordeal. I had the map of Lycia in my head. The last time we ran into those Ganelon punks was outside Araphen, which was around the northwestern part of Lycia. Why the hell were they so far south?

"Hoho, so many young Lycians," chuckled the large, green-bearded one, walking toward a red-haired student, who was literally shaking. The man laughed as he started caressing her cheek. "And so many cute girls, ripe for the pickin'. Boys, I think we're going to have some fun tonight!"

_WHACK!_

The guy was suddenly struck on the back of the head by a bowl of watery gruel, which was thrown at him by someone sitting very close to me. "Nice shot, Chloe," I whispered. She gave a slight smile in response.

"Bitch..." the guy growled, drawing his axe. "Come on out, boys! These little nuisances are going to pay!"

"Calm yourself, Groznyi!" another man commanded. He walked into the room, giving both me and Chloe a good look at him. Both of us recognized him right away.

"Balan!" we both shouted. The former Caelin knight turned toward us. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea for us to draw attention to ourselves.

"You..." he growled, drawing his sword. "Tactician!"

"Oh boy..." I muttered. I began to hear murmuring around me about how I knew the guys who were attacking and how I might've been telling the truth about being the tactician of Caelin. Yeah, pretty much everyone believed Conner when he spread the rumor that I was never really the tactician of the Caelin War, but this really wasn't the way I wanted to prove it.

"So, it was true! This is where you've been hiding!" he sneered. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

"Balan, how could you?!" shouted Chloe. "You defected from Caelin to join a gang of bandits, just to hunt for Sean? Where is your honor?"

He chuckled. "Honor? I have no more honor, Chloe. It died when Caelin decided to accept this boy into its arms, and when that... barbarian girl dared to take the throne from its rightful heir!"

"Don't you _dare_ talk about Lyn like that!" I shouted. Okay, honestly, I was a little sensitive there, but this guy pretty much summed up all of the negative propaganda that Lundgren threw at the world when he was poisoning Lord Hausen. See, Balan was pretty angry at me when his brother died and blamed me for it, and understandably so given the information that Lundgren was spoon-feeding him. He was the guy who beat me to a bloody pulp when I was chained in a prison cell, and spit on me afterward. Even then, I had no idea he would go this far.

"Students of this academy! Listen well!" shouted Balan. "If you do not wish to be killed, do not leave this hall! These Ganelon bandits have at least enough honor to not kill unnecessarily, but they will not hesitate to strike down anyone who disobeys my warning!" He then pointed his sword threateningly in my direction. "Tactician! If you do not wish any harm to your fellow students, follow me to the courtyard. I want to finish what we started in that cell all those months ago."

Basically, he was going to beat the shit out of me again. Or maybe he was going to kill me, since he seemed so keen on doing that back then. Either way, I didn't really have a choice in this matter. I started getting up when I felt Chloe's arm grab onto mine.

"Sean, what are you doing?" she asked. "He wants to kill you!"

"You think I don't know that?" I replied harshly. "What am I supposed to do, Chloe? Try to call his bluff? I'm not going to take that chance!"

"But, Sean-"

"Chloe, please," I said in a calmer voice. "The Ganelon bandits are tough. And there are ten of them in here. So long as they think we're helpless, they won't attack you. Just keep calm, and things will work out, alright?"

Chloe paused for a few moments to take in what I just said, before finally releasing my arm. "Alright, Sean, I trust you," she told me.

"Keep things going here. I'll be back soon," I smiled. I took a small glance at the surrounding students, who all gave me a small acknowledging nod before I made my way out of the large entrance.

* * *

The courtyard was in the center of the large castle-like academy in the hills of eastern Pherae. It was a large circular, grassy area surrounded on all sides by the stone buildings that made up the classrooms and halls of the school. Four stone walkways from all four cardinal directions converged in the center of the grass, where a square flowerbed surrounded a marble fountain that served as a symbol of the Royal Academy.

"It has been nearly two years since I left this academy," said Balan. "This school and its worthless lessons on battle and numbers. They never prepared us for the truth. There is no elegance, no pride, no glory. It is only loss, and tragedy."

"Balan, I'm sorry about your brother," I sighed. "I know you can never forgive me, but at least accept that I'm really, really sorry about what happened."

"I cannot," he sighed, drawing his sword. "I will not allow you to live, tactician. You are no savior, you are a bringer of death. I will not allow any more tragedy come from your existence."

I clenched my fists and looked away as the memories flooded back to my mind. I remembered Balin, who was so intent on killing me, and his dying, unwavering glare. I remembered Yogi's dead scowl as he fell to Kent and Sain's attack. And General Eagler, Chloe's father, his warning to us, and a final acceptance of who I was. "I'm so sorry..." I whispered.

"Then repent for your sins, and die, tactician!" growled Balan. He swung the blade... and missed me by an inch as I stepped backward.

"I'm not going to die yet," I told him. "That's not an option."

"Coward!" he screamed, swinging again in a horizontal arc. I stepped back and fell to the ground, letting the blade harmlessly pass over my body. "You are too afraid to take your own life, and yet are so keen on killing others?!"

"I think your perspective of me is a bit skewed," I replied, pushing myself up. "Dying is not an answer, Balan. I have people waiting for me as well, and I promised I'd be back." Balan glared at me, not even bothering to talk anymore, and began a barrage of mad swinging with his sword. I kept on my toes, stepping backward and dodging each swing. By the way, part of that fantasy was true: I really did train my reflexes during those few months.

I felt my back hit a column as Balan began another horizontal swing, and rolled around it, letting Balan's blade embed itself into the stone. "Curses!" he growled. I took the chance and threw a hard punch in his jaw. Well, 'hard' is a relative term.

"OW!" I winced in pain, covering my throbbing right hand. Yeah, better reflexes was pretty much the only physical thing I had going for me now. My actual strength hadn't changed much since when I was traveling with Lyn. Balan noticed my pain and kicked me hard in the stomach. I doubled over, allowing him to cup his two fists and slam me on the back. I fell on my face pretty hard, and if I hadn't landed in grass I think I would've had a broken nose.

"Jeez," I coughed, wiping some blood from my lip. I looked up to see Balan free his sword from the stone column and swing down, trying to slice me in half. I quickly rolled out of the way, letting the blade send some grass flying. I managed to get up, though I was still in pain from that kick. Balan came at me again, and I jumped to the side, landing in the flowerbed. Unfortunately, the dirt was wet from a recent rain, and I slipped and fell, hitting my shoulder on the stone fountain.

"C-Crap..." I winced again, clutching my aching right shoulder. Seriously, this was not going as well as I had hoped. Sure I was good at dodging now, but I still had rotten luck when it came to actually fighting. Hooray for my hapless hero-ness.

Balan saw his chance, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to dodge anymore. He began his final swing. It was over...

And then I heard the familiar sound of clashing blades. I looked up to see that someone had blocked Balan's attack with his own sword. And boy, did it surprise me when I saw who it was.

"Are you alright, Sean?" asked Conner, pushing the surprised Balan backward.

"Yeah, and your timing was excellent," I replied, struggling to get up.

"Y-You are a student!" exclaimed Balan. "Did I not tell you that the bandits would kill you if they watched you leave?!"

"You can thank your friend here for getting us out of that," smiled Conner, looking out me.

"I take it the students got my message, then?" I smiled.

"They have taken control of the hall from those bandits," he replied. "I came as soon as things were under control. It seems that you have managed to stall him long enough."

"Wh-What do you mean?!" demanded Balan. "What message?!"

I smiled. "Right, explanation time. See, while everyone was panicking at first, it wouldn't take long for them to realize that there are over one hundred students, and ten bandits. I mentioned to Chloe that so long as we remained calm and they thought we were helpless, the bandits wouldn't attack."

"Once Sean gave the message, their part of the table were able to subdue one of the bandits," smiled Conner. "Following their example, the other students were able to take the rest of the bandits before they could do anything."

"Honestly, it would've been better if you didn't have just ten bandits to attack a hundred students in a school that has Combat as part of the curriculum," I chuckled.

"Y-You!" growled Balan, lifting his sword again. Conner blocked it, and with a quick movement, forced the sword out of his hand and stabbed Balan in the right shoulder. The former knight screamed in pain as Conner pulled the sword out, and he clutched his shoulder, falling against a pillar. I saw tears begin to come out of his eyes, his revenge against me now hopeless. "I h-hate you..."

"I know you do," I sighed, and Conner held out his hand to help me up, which I gladly took.

"You really were what you said you were," he said. "You really are the famous tactician of Caelin."

"Yeah," I smiled. "Glad you finally believe me."

"I'm sorry for spreading those rumors about you being a liar," said Conner. "It is... quite an embarrassment for me now."

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "Okay, now to clear something up here." I turned to Balan. "Who paid you to come here?"

Balan looked at me surprised. "Wh-What do you mean? I came because I wanted revenge, after finding out where you were!"

"You can stop giving me that bull," I told him. "I know there's more to it than that."

"But, Sean, it makes sense, doesn't it?" asked Conner.

"Not everything does," I replied. "First off, what are the Ganelon bandits doing here? Pherae is way too far away from their home mountains for them to just randomly wander here."

"You fought with them before, didn't you?" asked Conner. "Wouldn't it make sense that they would want revenge as well?"

"They didn't even recognize me," I replied. "Don't you think that's weird? Even when Balan was shouting about me being a tactician, they never showed any signs of acknowledging me as the same tactician they faced all those months ago. It's clear that they didn't follow Balan for revenge against me."

"So, you think they must have some other motivation," Conner replied.

"Exactly," I smiled. "The only thing that I can think of besides revenge that would motivate them is money, though, considering Balan's less-than-pampered state, I seriously doubt that."

"A knight who abandons his duty loses everything, including wealth," Conner realized. "So, Balan couldn't have motivated them with his own gold."

"Right," I replied. "So, the only other explanation is that someone set this whole thing up, bribed Ganelon with a ton of gold and Balan with revenge on me."

"Y-You really are amazing..." said Balan.

"Spill it, Balan," I commanded. "Who sent you here?"

"I-It was..." Balan began, but got distracted by a large fireball that began hurling towards us.

"Look out!" shouted Conner, tackling me out of the way of the blast. The fireball flew toward Balan, who let out a blood-curdling scream as the flame consumed him. The blast was so strong that even Conner tackling me out of the way didn't stop both of us from being thrown out range of the blast.

"H-Holy shit!" I exclaimed. The flame soon died, and the former Caelin knight Balan was left a blackened skeleton. "Th-That wasn't an ordinary Fire spell."

I heard clapping in the distance, and a familiar figure made himself clear under the full moonlight. "You have progressed farther than I ever could have anticipated in such a short time, my apprentice."

"P-Professor Black?!" gasped Conner. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"Darius," I muttered. "I thought it might've been you."

Darius smirked and took a look at the blacked pile of ashes that was Balan. "Elfire," he smiled. "I had nearly forgotten how brutal it was."

"You did this?!" demanded Conner, drawing his sword.

"No, I did," another voice said from behind the fiery-haired gentleman. The figure made his way out of the shadows, revealing a tall hooded man in a dark indigo cloak. "So, this is your apprentice, Lord Darius?"

"Yes, he is," Darius replied. "Sean, allow me to introduce Ephidel, one of the highest members of the Black Fang."

"He is quite impressive, I must say," the man smiled under his hood. "Had we more time, I think we would have found great use for him."

"More time?" I asked. "Wait, Darius, what's going on?"

Darius gave me what I think was an apologetic look. "It seems that I had found you too late, Sean. I do not have time to finish training you to become the next greatest mind in Elibe."

"Halt!" shouted Conner. "Professor, I do not understand what is happening, but I know that if you are with the Black Fang then I must stop you!" With that, Conner charged at Darius. I blinked at the next part, so I wasn't able to get everything that happened, but it seemed with one quick move, Darius had drawn his rapier, dodged the attack, and stabbed Conner in the chest.

"Rest now, Conner MacDougal," Darius whispered. "Find peace in the next life." With that, he withdrew the blade from Conner, who fell on his knees before he collapsed from the fatal wound.

"I-I'm s-sorry..." he managed to croak.

"CONNER!" I shouted, running to the upperclassman. I checked his pulse. Nothing. Conner was dead. I fell to my knees. "No, not again... Oh God, Conner, I'm so sorry." I shot Darius an angry glare. "Bastard! He was your student!"

"My being a teacher was a disguise, remember?" he smirked. "You are my only true student, Sean."

"Shut up!" I screamed. "You're not my teacher! You're a fucking psycho!"

"I think it's best we take our leave," said Ephidel. Darius nodded in agreement, turning to leave me.

"Where do you think you're going? We're not finished yet!" I shouted. As a reply, Ephidel turned back around and conjured another Elfire.

"I think we are," he smirked, and threw the flaming orb toward the banquet hall. It took me a second before I realized what was happening. Balan and the Ganelon bandits were simply a distraction, while the banquet hall was doused in oil. As a result, it caught fire within seconds.

"NO!" I screamed, watching the building become engulfed in flames. "You sick bastard! There are over a hundred people in there!"

"Then you had better be quick," replied Darius. "The wooden supports inside the building won't hold for long, and they are all locked inside." He turned around and began walking away, only stopping to make an acknowledging gesture at me with his hand.

I made my decision and ran as fast as I could back to the burning banquet hall. I couldn't let everyone die. There had already been too many casualties that night. When I reached the building, I found that the door was blocked by a large piece of wood lain across the handles, and I could hear the screaming of the people inside, and their desperate poundings on the door. I mustered up all of my strength, and began pushing the wood out of the door.

_No more deaths!_ I thought angrily to myself. _Come on, Sean! You can save them! PUSH!_ With every ounce of strength I had left, I managed to move the wooden blockade, and the doors flew open as the crowd of students burst out, knocking me to the side. I hit my head on the ground pretty hard. I was close to blacking out, and the last thing I remember seeing was a large creature with bright wings flying toward the moonlight.

* * *

Well, the good news was that I had actually saved everyone in that building. Everyone got out with nothing more than some cuts, burns, and bruises. Believe me, I was incredibly thankful for that. It was a great feeling knowing that everyone was alive because of me.

The only problem was that it was because of me that they were in a burning building in the first place. Balan was after _me_, and so if it wasn't for me, this whole situation would never have happened, and Conner and the Headmaster would both still be alive. Because of this, I pretty much kept out of sight when the students' parents came to pick them up a few days later.

I sat by myself, wearing the clothes I had when I first arrived in Elibe, outside the walls of the academy near a rarely used path that I had found early in the semester. It gave a good view of Pherae from the hilly ground, and the landscape was beautiful and serene. The spot kind of became my secret thinking area, where I could just stare at the landscape and relax.

As such, it was the best place to get away from the students who would inevitably tell their parents about me, and the parents who would probably blame me for the near death of their children.

"I thought you would be here," I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Hey, Chloe," I replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, thanks to you," she smiled. The girl sat down next to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Sean," she told me. "Those people who accuse you do not know what you had to go through."

"Still, they're right," I muttered. "If I wasn't here-"

"But you _are _here," Chloe interrupted. "And Sean, you are the reason that we are all still here as well. You had no control over this incident. Balan's hatred toward you was due to Lundgren's lies, and it was his own fault for not accepting the truth." She paused to take a breath before continuing. "Stop blaming yourself for everything, because truthfully, I think that Elibe needs someone like you."

I turned to look at my best friend, and she pretty much had a look in her eyes that said 'Argue with me, and you'll lose.' She was right, though. There was no point in beating myself up with the 'what if' situations. The fact was that I was in Elibe. I was sent to Elibe because I was the one who could save it. Somehow.

"Thanks, Chloe," I finally managed to reply.

"You do not need to thank me, Sean. You are my best friend," she smiled.

"Yeah, you're mine too," I replied.

There was a pause, before Chloe spoke again. "So, what do you plan to do now? Will you return to Caelin?"

I honestly wanted to. Caelin was a place where I would be accepted, where I had people I could call 'friends'... hell, I'd call them 'family'. But there was that thought in the back of my head. Why did they let me live? Ephidel said that the Black Fang couldn't use me, so why did he let me live? I was obviously the best match against Darius (though admittedly, not much of a match), and I was probably going to be a hindrance to them. It could be that he was overconfident, but given Darius' agreement to him, that didn't seem likely.

They wanted me alive.

"I can't go back to Caelin right now," I sighed. "The Black Fang wants me for some reason. I think if I go back, Lyn and everyone will be in danger."

"But they are strong!" exclaimed Chloe.

"No, they have to protect Caelin," I told her. "Lord Hausen is still recovering and the territory is in a state of chaos. Lyn is needed as a leader right now, not a warrior. There will be a time when I need to go back, but right now, I have to find out more about the Black Fang."

"Why is this Black Fang so important?" asked Chloe.

"They're strong, organized, and lead by someone I can't compete with right now," I replied. "I'm going to travel around Lycia to find out more. Something tells me that the Black Fang is interested in Lycia for some reason. And, I think this will give me a bit of a chance to train some of my own skills. I know the theories of strategy, and now, I need the field work. I think that's the best way to get ready for a battle against Darius."

Chloe and I just stood there in silence for a little bit. She was averting her eyes and shifting her weight uncomfortably, with an expression that said that she was considering something.

"When do we leave?" she finally asked.

"As soon as- What do you mean 'we'?!" I demanded.

"You know as well as I do that you cannot travel alone," she answered. "So, I will accompany you."

"No, Chloe, you can't!" I replied. "Your mother will probably be worried sick about you!"

"I will send her a letter," she told me. "She is a strong woman, I know she will be alright."

"She won't like the fact that you're traveling with me, of all people," I warned.

"It doesn't matter if she blames you for father. Right now, I know Lycia needs you, Sean. And, you need me. I won't let you go alone."

"Chloe, think about what you're doing," I sighed. "You're the only one she has left. What do you think will happen if you tell her you're running off with the guy who killed your dad? I don't think that it will end well."

"Then come back to Caelin with me!" she shouted. "I don't want you to wander around Lycia without anyone to go with you!"

"I have to do this!" I shouted back. "I really want to see everyone again, but now's not the right time. Darius decided that he didn't need me as his apprentice anymore, which means the Black Fang is making their move. Until then, I need to prepare as well. It will be the first time that I'll really be on my own."

"So, you're not coming back to Caelin," sighed Chloe.

"Not yet," I replied. "Tell Lyn that I'm okay. And also tell her not to worry about me. I'll come back to Caelin soon."

Chloe just looked at me and gave a small smile. "Alright, I will inform Lady Lyndis. I guess this is good-bye?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is." She got up slowly, and held her hand out to help me up as well, which I gladly took.

"Take care of yourself, alright?" she smiled.

"Of course," I replied. She slowly took her hand out of mine and made her way back to the school where her mother was presumably waiting, leaving me alone for the first time. I looked over the beautiful Pheraean landscape one more time before making my way back to the dormitory to gather some things. And this began what was probably the most dangerous and tiring journey anyone my age should ever have to go through.

Sometimes, I hate my "interesting" life...

* * *

_A/N: And the chapter comes to a close! This chapter contains pretty much all original characters, apart from Ephidel. I came up with this one once I read the blurb on the tactician after the end of Lyn's Tale. It said he wanted to travel Lycia, and, well, Sean didn't. I figured this would be a good way to merge the game story with my story._

_Anyway, I'm glad that I finally finished this. I needed to tie together the 'One Year Later' with the Pheraean Academy plot somehow, and I like how this turned out. I also brought on some questions about Darius's motives which will be brought back again and again during the course of the story. Remember, this story ties together completely with the game (if I'm successful)._

_I hope I succeeded in making Sean grow as a character, but kept the lovable tactician from the previous story that became so popular. He can now dodge, but is still crap at fighting. I finished the Balin/Balan subplot now, and brought Chloe back because, well, she was my favorite original character after Sean. I won't say much, but I'll tell you that this will (probably) not be the last appearance of Chloe Eagler.  
_

_Reviews would be greatly appreciated!_


	2. Chapter 1: Taking Leave

_A/N: Unbelievable, it's already been two months?! I am so sorry this took so long. I'm sure some people may have forgotten all about this story already. I've been having a hard time keeping up with everything that I needed to do over these past couple of months, but I hope that the length of this chapter is enough to make up for the wait! It took forever to write, though, and I just realized what the expectation of the readers is going to be now..._

_Anyway, I guess you can consider this an early Christmas present from your favorite crosstrigger, and please enjoy the first chapter of Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 1: Taking Leave

"Oh god! Food!" I squealed with delight as the girl put the rabbit stew on the table. I'm pretty sure that I had drool going down the side of my mouth too, but I didn't care. I was that hungry.

"You sound like you haven't seen food in weeks, boy," laughed the portly, brown-haired man.

"I don't think he has," chuckled his brother, a slimmer, and taller man with a moustache. I didn't really pay much attention to what they were saying. I was too hungry.

"I hope that you enjoy my cooking, Sean," said the green-haired girl. She was younger than me, probably around 14 or 15, and wore her hair in pigtails, and kept a light green bandana over her head. At that moment, she wore an apron over her black shirt and hide skirt, but her usual attire would have her in a yellow leather vest and leather boots.

"It smells delicious. You should see what I've been living off of, Rebecca," I chuckled. As I mentioned a while back, I can't cook. So, for the past three months, I'd pretty much been living off of stale bread, burned mushrooms, and blackened fish, each of which took me about two hours to catch. You know, in terms of a tactician's ability to plan ahead, I probably should've thought of that _before_ turning down the invitation to go back to Caelin.

"I still cannot believe that you are the tactician of Caelin, though," chuckled the brown-haired woman at the table. "Wil has told us so much about you."

"I'm just glad I wound up in the village where his parents live," I smiled.

Okay, so, just as a brief exposition, I was back in Pherae now. The incident at the academy, which became known as the Academy Incident (creative, I know), had passed 3 months before. I had pretty much spent my time wandering around Lycia, going from village to village, helping out some people whenever it was needed. By helping, I mean helping some villages out of bandit raids by using some tactics I learned from Darius and the help of some able-bodied villagers. It was pretty much a way of keeping sharp should I ever need to face the Black Shadow on the battlefield.

I came back to Pherae after hearing a rumor while I was in Tania. Apparently, Eliwood's old man, the benevolent and beloved ruler of Pherae, Lord Elbert, had disappeared last month with some of his best men. People started talking about how the guy might've died, and I figured that this was as good a lead as any to the Black Fang and their plans. Three months was the time I spent waiting for their next move. And I knew that soon, it would be time that I needed to really put my strategies to the test.

Of course, that didn't discount the fact that I was flat broke and starving. I had spent my last gold after my first night in the village without even realizing it, and so I spent a few days just looking for some work so that I wouldn't starve. Unfortunately, no luck. I wasn't built for manual labor (I'm pretty sure that roof was better _before_ I tried to fix it), and, well, it was just pretty hard to find something that I could do to earn a little extra cash. Fortunately, Wil's parents recognized me from his description of me (most probably my signature green cloak) and were able to introduce me to the village magistrate and his daughter, Rebecca, who had just come home from hunting. Apparently, they just lived next door to each other.

And so we arrive at the current scene, with a dinner table, and my drooling.

"We've heard stories about your travels to Caelin," said Wil's father, a large man with blonde hair. "Though, I never imagined that Wil's friend, Sean the Tactician, was still so young."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," I chuckled.

"Well, it seems we've solved the mystery of the lost boy," said Rebecca's uncle.

"Lost boy?" I asked.

"The villagers seem to talk about you a lot," said Rebecca as she handed me a bowl of the stew. "We don't get too many travelers, so the rumors spread."

"Rebecca!" the magistrate scolded. "You must not say these kinds of things about our guest!"

"It's fine," I smiled. "Rumors, huh? Like what?"

She giggled and sat down next to me. "Well, I suppose I can tell you about some of the more interesting ones. Some believe that you are some sort of hero, and you discovered that you have some sort of destiny from when you were a child, and you are to fight a battle against a 'King of Evil' who will bring destruction to the world in a few years time."

Is it just a coincidence that I was wearing green?

"There is another that says that you were a former soldier, and are embarking on a quest to overcome a secret organization that is draining all of our planet's energy, and you are strong enough to wield a sword that is nearly as large as you are."

"Do they also think I have spikey blonde hair and can do cool moves when I've been hit enough times?" I asked. Rebecca looked at me confused. "Never mind," I sighed.

"I think my favorite one is that you are some half-blooded prince of a kingdom of dragons that survived the Scouring, and are in actuality a trained sage who works for a small but strong band of mercenaries."

"Seriously, where do people get these ideas from?" I laughed. "I feel like some kind of video game character."

"Video... game?" asked Rebecca, obviously confused.

"Never mind," I chuckled. I was loving the fact that people thought that I was so much cooler than I actually was. But seriously, where do these ideas come from? I mean, a hero, an ex-soldier, and a half-dragon? These ideas were definitely not original.

"Of course, none of us know what happened to you after you left Caelin," said Wil's mother. "Perhaps you could entertain us with your actual story?"

"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "These are _so_ much better that my actual story!"

"Alright, settle down," laughed the fat magistrate. "Sean hasn't eaten in a long while, we can listen to his story after he regains some energy. Please, Sean, help yourself."

Don't mind if I do...

The dinner was easily the most delicious thing that had entered my mouth since the academy hall burned down, and I was beyond satisfied with having a full stomach at last. After dinner, we sat next to the fireplace, and I told them the entire story of meeting Lyn, and the travels to Caelin, up until the Academy Incident. I also let out a few details about Darius and the Black Fang, deciding it would probably be best if someone knew what might happen to Lycia in the coming months.

"... though, like I said, not quite as good as the rumors," I finished. Everyone was just staring in awe at my story.

"I had no idea the burning of the Academy was caused by someone so horrible," said Wil's mother.

"You think that Lord Elbert's disappearance and the Academy are connected?" asked Rebecca.

"Something like that," I replied. More specifically, I was following a lead to the Black Fang's next move.

"Well, you will be safe here," smiled the magistrate. "Our village is close to Castle Pherae. Even if many of Lord Elbert's men left with him, it will still be difficult for someone to attack us."

"I hope you're right," I sighed.

"Well, I will be happy to offer you some shelter for tonight," smiled the portly man. "My brother is sleeping in the spare room, but I can have a room at the inn paid for you to stay at."

"Th-Thank you so much," I told him. "Really, thank you."

"It is my pleasure," smiled the magistrate.

"Alright, we must be off," said Wil's father. "Sean, it was a pleasure to meet you at last."

"Likewise," I told him. Wil's parents smiled at me as they stood up and walked out of the magistrate's home.

"Rebecca, please lead our guest to the inn," said the magistrate. At his word, Rebecca took my arm and led me outside to where I was going to sleep that night. It felt good just to have a roof over my head. I really took the whole thing with living in castles for granted.

* * *

The morning came soon enough, and boy, was I glad. No bandit raids, no rain on my face, no bugs up my pants...

Okay, maybe that last one was a little too much information.

Anyway, I unwillingly got out of bed after the most comfortable sleep I had in months, and made my way downstairs, where I was greeted by a familiar face.

"Good morning, Sean," smiled Rebecca.

"Morning," I replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Father had me come to check on you," she smiled. "I just arrived a minute ago. It seems I have good timing."

"Indeed," I yawned. "Best... sleep... ever..."

"I'm glad you enjoyed your stay," she smiled. "Do you want to come for breakfast? I just bought some eggs from the market."

"I would love to," I replied. She smiled and led me out of the inn, back to the magistrate's house.

"You're pretty talented, kiddo," I told her. "You hunt for food, and you can cook it as well. And, considering how fast rabbits around here run, my guess is that you're pretty sharp with the bow?"

Rebecca blushed at the statement. "I've wanted to learn ever since I was young. My brother, Dan, and Wil were always playing their games, and I suppose I just wanted to play with them as well. I suppose I never had much interest in more feminine activities."

"Growing up with a bunch of rambunctious boys would do that to you, I guess," I laughed. "Though, I haven't heard about your brother Dan from Wil before."

"I'm not sure what happened to him," sighed Rebecca. "At some point, Wil got separated from him." She turned away, and I could tell that she was trying to hold back her tears.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know," I replied. I really should've figured that since Wil didn't mention him, he had no idea where Dan was. And then I wouldn't have had to bring up this painful topic for Rebecca. Now I just felt like a jerk.

"It's alright," she replied. "It was a long time ago, I was only a child."

"Still, I'm sorry," I told her. "I take it that one day, you want to go look for him?"

She nodded. "I would like some traveling companions before I leave, though. It would probably be lonely wandering by yourself."

"Tell me about it," I muttered as we reached the house. Rebecca put the groceries on the table and picked up her apron.

"It must be so wonderful to travel, though," sighed Rebecca.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," I laughed. "Bandit raids are pretty frequent. You'd be much safer in the village."

And, as the fates always dictate, I was going to eat my words right at that moment.

A scream emanated from the town square. Rebecca looked at me for a moment before running outside.

"Wait!" I shouted after her.

* * *

"We've all heard that the knights of Pherae have vanished, right? Well, your misfortune is my good luck!" the gruff-looking green-haired bearded brigand shouted. "I have an announcement to make! As of now, this village is mine! Groznyi is your new liege! Now, bring every last piece of gold, down to the smallest fleck!"

At those words, many of his bandit men (there were at least fifteen of them) spread out around the square, taking down people as they began screaming for help.

"This doesn't look good," I muttered. "Rebecca? Where are you?" I began to look for her, but bumped into a tall, really muscular man with a scar on his eye. The way he was dressed pretty much told me that he was one of the bandits.

"Watch where yer goin', kid," he said in a deep voice.

"S-Sorry about that, man," I chuckled nervously, starting to walk past him. I was quickly stopped by the big guy grabbing the collar of my tunic.

"Ya need to pay up, boy," he growled, holding his hand out.

"But I don't have any money..." I replied. At that, the man pulled me into a half-nelson and dragged me toward the guy in the center of the square.

"Then ya gotta go talk to the boss, and you'll be workin' fer us fer a while."

"So, we have a fool who won't pay, do we?" the man at the center of town laughed. "Let me see his face!" The large guy loosened his half-nelson, but kept hold of my tunic so that I could actually lift my head. I saw his eyes widen as he saw my face. "YOU!" he shouted.

"Me?" I asked, pointing to myself.

"Boss, do you know this boy?" asked the large man.

"Indeed," he laughed. "Do you remember my face, boy?"

"Uh... no..." I replied, confused.

"How could you forget me, boy?!" shouted the man. "I am the feared bandit GROZNYI!"

"Oh my god!" I shouted, to which Groznyi had a triumphant smirk on his face. "Wait, who are you, again?"

"YOU-!" he screamed. "I WAS AT THE ACADEMY ON ROLAND'S DAY! I WAS THERE WHEN THAT HALL GOT BURNED TO THE GROUND!"

"Oh, I remember now! You were Balan's lackey," I said. He was the same guy who wanted to feel up the girls that night. And the one Chloe threw a bowl at. "So, you didn't go back to Ganelon..."

"No, I just took the lead of this here group of brigands. I will enjoy taking your head, boy," he growled, brandishing his axe. "After all, you are responsible for these burns!" He pointed to a discoloration on the side of his neck.

"Ouch..." I muttered. Just then, I felt the muscular guy's grip loosen, and heard the unmistakable "thump" of him falling over. I was freed.

"What?!" shouted Groznyi. I looked, and saw that he had an arrow embedded in his back.

"Ah, ever the tactician, boy," laughed Groznyi. "You had soldiers try to ambush us!"

"Actually, no I didn't," I replied.

"LIES!" shouted Groznyi, raising his axe, "DIE, BOY!" I stepped backward, but felt my shoe tugging on my cloak.

"Shit..." I muttered as I fell over, tripping over my own cloak. Fortunately, my tripping over myself caused Groznyi's axe blade to miss me, and the momentum of the swing allowed it to embed itself into a nearby stone.

I was starting to think that I was sent here because of my ridiculously good luck.

"Son of a-!" shouted Groznyi, trying to pull his axe out. I was lying on the ground near his feet, and I realized it wouldn't be long before he had that axe again, so I did the only thing I could think of to get away...

"AAAAAH!" Groznyi cried about two seconds later. He cringed, doubling over in sheer agony, and finally falling over in a fetal position on the ground, clutching his most sensitive part of the male anatomy. I swear I could hear the people watching cringe as well. "D-Dishonorable..."

"Yeah, well, I figured honor wasn't really part of the equation when you were taking money from these villagers," I smiled as I got up. "Besides, I think you needed a good kick in the-"

"M-Men! Leave the villagers for now! KILL THAT BOY!"

Oh, for the love of...

I felt a hand grab my arm, and turned to see Rebecca, holding her bow with her other hand. "Run, Sean!" she shouted.

"Yeah, good plan," I replied.

* * *

I could hear the rest of the bandits following us as we made our way between houses. Arrows began flying, and Rebecca pulled me behind some boxes to shield ourselves, and we watched as the bandits ran past us. Thank god. We were both panting and out of breath.

"So, I take it you're the one who saved me?" I asked.

"Yes," panted Rebecca. "Though, I was expecting you to fight back."

"Hello? Tactician, not fighter!" I told her, pointing to myself.

"You really don't know how to fight?" asked Rebecca.

"I know how. I'm just not very good at it," I smiled sheepishly.

"You are full of surprises aren't you?" chuckled Rebecca. "You anger the leaders of bandit groups, and you cannot fight at all? How in the world did you survive up to this point?"

"Pretty much like this," I replied.

"There they are!" one of the bandits shouted.

"...and like this," I finished, taking Rebecca's arm and running again.

We ended up in a wide street, but found that we were now blocked on all sides. They had surrounded us.

"Shit," I muttered.

Rebecca readied her bow. "I will see if I can clear a few of them," she told me.

"No, fire at them and they'll come at us from every way," I muttered. "We're stuck. Our only choice is probably to surrender."

"What?!" gasped Rebecca. "That can't be your only idea! You're the famous tactician! You've faced overwhelming odds before!"

"I'll go into a little more detail about that later," I chuckled. "Anyway, the problem is not the odds, but the fact that you're the only one that can fight. There's no one to back you up otherwise. We need someone else..."

"Alright, let's get the girl first," chuckled one of the bandits. Rebecca turned to aim her bow at the owner of that voice, but she was immediately grabbed from behind by another bandit, putting her into a neck hold.

"Hehe, little young for my tastes, though," he laughed. "Well, in a few years, she'll be a good sell, haha!"

"Let her go!" I shouted. "It's me you want, right? I'm the one Groznyi wants to kill!"

"That's true," said the bandit holding Rebecca. "But, it would be such a shame to leave this lovely young girl. She has such a pretty face..."

"L-Let me go," growled Rebecca.

"Rebecca, I'm sorry," I whispered. Damn, why did I have to involve her? She was just an innocent girl! And now, she was going to be held captive, and sold by these brigands. All the girl wanted was to help me, she didn't deserve this...

My thoughts were interrupted by a javelin flying out of nowhere, catching the arm of one of the bandits.

"What the-?" The bandit's sentence was unfinished when he was cut down from behind by a young knight in yellow armor. He had light blue hair which covered his eyes, and had a sword in his right hand.

"Let her go," he demanded.

"A Pheraean knight?" gasped one of the bandits. Rebecca took the chance to bite the arm of the bandit holding her. He yelped in pain, and loosened enough for Rebecca to free herself and pick up her bow. She then turned and gave the bandit a kick in the...

Ouch. I guess she learned that one from me. The poor guy fell over in pure agony.

"Come! We must escape!" the knight shouted.

"Like hell!" another bandit shouted, lunging at the young man. His lunge was incomplete when he fell over due to an arrow that caught him in the back, courtesy of Rebecca.

"Y-You'll regret that, girl!" the last bandit shouted, charging at Rebecca. I looked around and saw a broom propped against the wall. I picked it up and moved toward where the bandit was charging and swung the fibrous end at the bandit's face, which he ran right into. His feet flew forward, and he landed on his back. The knight took the chance to stab the guy in the leg with his sword, causing him to scream in pain.

"He won't be getting up for a while," he told me. "Are you both alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," I smiled.

"Yes, thank you very much," said Rebecca. "You are a knight, right?"

He nodded. "My name is Lowen. I am in the service of Lord Eliwood of Pherae."

"Eliwood?" I exclaimed. "Eliwood's here?!" This was too good! Eliwood had helped me and Lyn before, so I was sure that with his aid this problem would be short work.

"Yes, he is waiting for me to finish gathering supplies," said Lowen. "I am sure that he will be willing to aid your village against this bandit raid."

"Sir Lowen, can you please take us to him?" pleaded Rebecca. "My name is Rebecca, I am the daughter of the village magistrate. Please, if Lord Eliwood can help..."

"My horse can only carry one other person," Lowen replied apologetically. "So, I can only take Rebecca or..."

"Sean," I finished for him.

"Well, then, take Sean," said Rebecca. "He is a tactician, so he will be more help on your side."

"No, Rebecca," I told her. "I have to get to the inn. I've got some stuff there to help do... tactician stuff." Both of them looked at me strangely. I sighed. "Look, Lowen, just get her out of here! Tell Eliwood about the problem, and come back. As long as I'm here, the bandits will be after me and not the villagers."

"But Sean..." Rebecca began.

"Hey, I'll be okay," I tried to reassure her. "You know how I survived up until now? I haven't met a bandit fast enough to actually hit me yet." I turned to Lowen. "Go tell Eliwood about the bandits, and also tell him that Sean is here." Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "He'll know," I smiled.

"A-Alright," said Lowen. "Come, Rebecca. We must hurry out of this village. My horse is over there."

"Right," nodded Rebecca. "Good luck, Sean!" At that, she ran after Lowen to get help from Eliwood.

"Okay, now to figure out where tall, gruff, and ugly is so I can play keepaway," I said to myself.

"BOY!" the shout snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned to see Groznyi, standing tall again, and with axe ready to cut my freaking head off. I also noticed that his pitch was noticably higher, which was why I didn't recognize his voice right away. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, Groznyi, I think I made you a soprano," I chuckled.

He looked around me and saw his four men on the ground in pain. "I underestimated you, boy. But no more! MEN!" At his command, even more bandits, armed with axes and bows, appeared next to him.

"Heh... I'll just be going now..." I chuckled nervously, and started darting toward the town gate, which Lowen and Rebecca were just riding out of. Great, so I probably was going to do quite a bit of running.

* * *

"I... so... need... to... go... to... gym..." I panted.

I was out of the gate and on the grassy fields of Pherae. The bandits had all followed me out of the village, which was my basic plan to keep the villagers safe in the first place. However, that meant that I had to run until I was completely out of breath to keep away from them. At some point, I made it through some hills and lost sight of them, which meant that they couldn't see me anymore either.

"Fucking... hell..." I gasped, collapsing on my knees. Seriously, I had spent a year in Elibe already, and I was still out of breath after running that small distance.

"The bandits came without warning. They're stealing everything! I beg you! Please help us!" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Rebecca..." I realized. She was close!

"I see. Marcus! Lowen! We must aid the village!"

"Yes, milord!"

"Eliwood!" I exclaimed excitedly. I immediately got up and made my way toward where the voices were coming from.

"Rebecca, stay here, and keep out of sight," I heard Eliwood say.

"If it please you, milord, I would rather fight. I hunt almost every day, and I have some skill with a bow."

"Is that so? Very well, but be careful!"

"Yes, milord."

"Almost there..." I panted, making my way through some rocks.

"Lord Eliwood, one more thing. There is another in the village who has offered to help. A traveling tactician who was staying at the inn."

"A tactician?" asked Eliwood.

_That's me!_ I thought excitedly. I reached the end of the rocks and could see the group. Lowen and Rebecca were there, alongside an older knight on his horse, and the familiar red-haired lord. I was about to run down toward them, until I realized that I had just stepped over a cliff. "Oh, this is so typic-" I didn't get to finish the statement before I lost balance and started tumbling down the cliff toward the group, stopping right at Lowen's feet.

"Ow..." I muttered.

"Er, yes, milord. This is Sean," said Lowen, pointing to me.

"Sean!" exclaimed the red-haired lord.

"Hey, Eliwood," I muttered. He smiled and helped me up.

"Do you know this person, milord?" asked Lowen.

Eliwood nodded. "Yes, I met Sean during the trouble in Caelin last year. A fantastic military advisor, if memory serves. If not for Sean, the marquess of Caelin and his granddaughter, Lyn, might not have survived Lundgren's uprising."

"Caelin?" asked the older man. "Wait, Lord Eliwood. You mean to say this boy is..."

"The famous tactician of Caelin," Eliwood finished.

"The tactician of Caelin?" gasped Lowen. "This boy?"

"You heard... it from him," I was still panting.

Eliwood smiled. "It has been a long time, Sean."

"Likewise," I replied, regaining my composure. "I haven't seen you since before I went to the Academy."

"Yes, I heard about the attack there," said Eliwood. "I tried to get word from you, but you had disappeared. What brings you back to Pherae, my friend?"

"Well, I was kind of moving around..." I began.

"Ha! Still traveling about, honing your skills?" he laughed. "Of course... A worthy pursuit. Let's give thanks to providence for our chance reunion. We have need of your aid. Please lend us your skill."

I nodded. "Right, now that we have more people, I think we can drive those bandits out of here."

"My name is Marcus, head of the knights of Pherae," said the older man. "It is an honor to meet you, Sean. Lord Eliwood has spoken fondly of you, and has much praise for your talent."

"The honor is mine," I replied. "Anyway, those bandits aren't going to defeat themselves."

"Indeed," smiled the older man. "I am looking forward to working with you. Give us our orders, Tactician!"

It felt strangely good to have a title. Does that mean I'm secretly an attention whore? I really hope not...

"Okay, I'm pretty sure the bandits lost me on the way here," I began. "Knowing those guys, they've probably split up over the surrounding area to look for me, which means they're not going to attack as a group."

"That makes sense," said Lowen.

"However, we've got to keep Rebecca here protected," I continued.

"But, Sean, I can protect myself," said Rebecca. "Or have you forgotten who saved you from that first bandit?"

"I haven't forgotten," I smiled. "You're pretty handy with the bow, kiddo, but unfortunately, if you're attacked en masse by the axewielding bandits, you'll at best be able to take out one or two. Once they get close, you've lost your advantage." I turned to Lowen. "Think you can keep her company, Lowen? Let Rebecca do what she can with her bow, but if a bandit gets close, you're her protector."

"I understand," replied Lowen.

"Okay, Eliwood," I began. "I haven't seen how good you are with that rapier yet."

Eliwood smiled. "All you have to know is that I received top marks in the Combat Lessons at the same academy you attended."

"Good enough for me," I laughed. "Eliwood, you and I will stick together. Your sword gives us an advantage over the axe-wielding bandits. We'll follow Lowen and Rebecca toward the village."

"I will follow your command, Sean," said the lord.

"Finally, Marcus," I began. "I believe there's another village over that way. In order to prevent the bandits from attacking them as well, think you can go warn them to close their gates?"

"It shall be done, tactician," smiled Marcus.

"Alright then," I smiled. "We have our plan guys. We'll head over that way until we reach the end of that mountain, and we'll split up as planned. Let's do this!"

* * *

And the tactics began. As expected, the bandits pretty much came one or two at a time. Marcus was able to defend himself, and the teamwork of Lowen, Rebecca, and Eliwood was enough to keep the bandits from getting a good hit onto our small group for a while. Pretty much everything went smoothly until...

"Found you, boy!" shouted a bandit. I hadn't actually considered that some bandits had went through the mountains themselves the same way I did, and we were caught unprepared from behind.

"Crap," I muttered. Eliwood was busy with another bandit in front, and Lowen and Rebecca were already ahead of us. The brigand readied his axe to chop my head off, and I was getting ready to jump out of the way when...

"GRAH!" the brigand shouted as he noticed the hand axe that got embedded in his shoulder. "Who-" He was interrupted by a large axe which caught him in the stomach.

"Um, I think I want to finish that guy's question now," I said, turning to the axe-wielder who allegedly saved me. I nearly fell over when I saw the man's face clearer. "D-Dorcas?!"

"It has been quite some time, Sean," the axewielder smiled. "I noticed that you were fighting these brigands and thought I could assist."

"Yeah, thanks, Dorcas," I replied. "We could always use more people."

"Ha! Then look no further than us, boy!" a second voice shouted heartily. Another axe-wielder, wearing a blue tunic, black pants, and a white bandana, made himself clear. "I see that you know my good buddy Dorcas a'ready, so allow me to introduce myself! You can call me Bartre the Brave!"

"I'm going to guess that the hand axe was his," I said to Dorcas, to which he nodded. "Alright, well if you're friends with Dorcas, I'll be glad to have your help. I think the girl with the bow over there's going to need some extra protection. She's only got the knight with her, so if you guys could-"

"Get ready to die, ya filthy bandits! Bartre the Brave's gonna take your 'eads!" the brown-haired, bandana-clad fighter shouted as he charged over toward Rebecca and Lowen.

"-help out?" I finished. Dorcas just chuckled.

"Don't mind his behavior," he smiled. "Bartre is a good friend of mine, and I can vouch for his reliability in a fight."

"Yeah, but does he have to scream like that?" I asked.

"It keeps his spirits up," answered Dorcas.

"I guess that makes sense," I laughed. "Anyway, Dorcas, think you can go keep our 'brave' fighter from being too 'brave' for the time being?"

"I will do what I can," he replied, brandishing his axe and running after the much louder warrior. It was good to see a familiar face again, and Dorcas bringing his friend along seemed to be a godsend at the time, especially considering our small numbers.

Plus there was the face that Bartre's antics were a pretty good form of crowd control.

Well, anyway, after that, everything went really smoothly. The extra help from Bartre and Dorcas was exactly what we needed in order to keep the bandits off of Rebecca. The girl, after getting over the shock from seeing two really big guys with axes suddenly barge into the battle, was able to weaken a good portion of the attacking forces before Lowen, Bartre, Dorcas, and Eliwood were able to take them out. After a while, Marcus came back, and we reached the village, where Mister Large-and-Unshaven was waiting for us.

"So you've returned, boy!" laughed Groznyi. "What is this, a pack of children coming to play? You think you can challenge me?"

"You haven't taken a good look at them, have you, Groznyi?" I smirked, pointing to Eliwood, Lowen, and Marcus.

There was a short pause before his eyes widened in realization. "What? Pheraean knights?! But that's impossible!!!"

"Groznyi, you are a threat to that village," Eliwood said with a stern look. "Leave now and we may show you mercy!"

"Y-You even have Lord Eliwood fighting for you," growled the bandit. "Coward! Why do you not face me yourself?!"

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" I asked, smiling. "Why would I want to face that?"

Hell yes! Feel the burn!

Rebecca readied an arrow. "Leave my village at once, Groznyi," she growled. "And never return. If I ever see you here again, I will not hesitate to put this arrow between your eyes."

"I will have your head, boy!" screamed the bandit leader, picking up his axe. Right as the blade left the ground, Rebecca fired, catching Groznyi in the arm. He barely seemed fazed by it, and began charging at me. Bartre took the chance to throw a second hand axe, which made a nice clean cut into Groznyi's right side. The bandit had a one track mind, though, and kept plowing forward toward the guy he seemed to hate so much.

"Stay back, Sean!" shouted Dorcas, stepping in front of me. At that moment, I saw Eliwood, rapier in hand, step forward. He closed his eyes for a moment, bringing the sword to his face and focusing. I swear, I could see the glint of his rapier move to the tip and sparkle for a second. As Groznyi moved closer, he opened his eyes, stepped back, swinging his sword to a ready position. As soon as he was close enough, Eliwood thrust the rapier forward and impaled the bandit leader in the chest with one swift movement. Due to his charging, Groznyi had no chance to react.

"Ugh... I thought my luck... was finally turning around..." coughed Groznyi, as he fell to Eliwood's blade. The lord pulled it out of his body, wiped the blood off, and resheathed it. I was at a loss for words.

"That hit... looked critical..." I whispered. I swear, I heard someone screaming in the background as I said that.

* * *

"Oh, Rebecca! You're safe!" exclaimed the magistrate as we made our way into the village. The bandits were driven out, and everyone was coming out to see the people that had saved them.

"It was thanks to Sean," she told him. "He made the plan to save the village."

"Um... I really shouldn't be the one taking the credit," I replied. "Lowen here led us to Eliwood, and then there's Dorcas and Bartre. We needed everyone for this, so I'm thinking that the group gets credit for this."

"Ah, you would be Lord Eliwood, yes?" asked the magistrate, turning to the red-haired lord. "Our deepest thanks for coming to the aid of our fair village."

"Think nothing of it," Eliwood answered. "It's a lord's duty to protect the citizenry."

The magistrate sighed. "Would that were true, milord. The good folk of Laus know no such protection. Their marquess, Lord Darin, is too busy preparing for war. He ignores all complaints of bandits and thieves."

Well, this was news to me...

Eliwood's eyes widened. "Preparing for war?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

"I would not lie, milord," the magistrate replied. "My brother lived in Laus until a few days ago. His home was torched, and he had no choice but to flee here. According to him, Laus could go to war any day now. It's all the people of Laus are talking about."

"So, that's why he took the spare room," I realized. "I guess it's not all peaceful in Lycia anymore, is it?"

"Lord Eliwood, if this is true, the situation is a grave one," said Marcus. "If Marquess Laus is readying for war... His target is most likely another Lycian territory. Perhaps this is connected to Lord Elbert's disappearance."

Eliwood had a thoughtful look on his face. "My father and Marquess Laus? It seems a tenuous connection, but it's as good a start as any. Let us travel to Laus. We must learn more."

"Lord Darin..." I wondered. Was it just a coincidence? I had wondered for some time what the Black Fang was up to in Lycia ever since Nils and Ninian left. What did they have here that wasn't in any other place in Elibe? I then remembered Lundgren, and what he was willing to do to gain power. Could Darin be the same?

"Thank you for your guidance, Sean," said Eliwood, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Where are you bound for next?"

"Um... not sure," I replied. "I'm kind of short on cash, so I'll probably need to stay here to work for some money before I go anywhere else."

"If you have no destination in mind, perhaps you could travel with us," he suggested. "As a lord, I can guarantee that our monetary supply will not run short for some time."

"I'm listening," I replied.

"Ours is a small group, with a single purpose-- to find my father," he told me. "I do not know where our road will lead, but... We would be stronger with you in our company."

Well, that was good to hear. Not only were my financial problems solved, but Eliwood was pretty much headed in the same direction I was. Lord Elbert's disappearance _was_ the reason I came back to Pherae, after all. And for some reason, I felt that figuring out what happened to Eliwood's dad was going to lead us to where we needed to go.

"Okay, Eliwood, you've convinced me," I replied. "I'm ready to head out whenever you are."

Eliwood's smile broadened. "You will travel with us? Splendid! Thank you! I pray we give you no cause to regret your decision."

I don't think I will...

* * *

"Thank you for taking care of me," I told the magistrate. "I'm really grateful for everything."

"Think nothing of it, my boy," laughed the moustached man, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You go be the tactician for Lord Eliwood, and serve him well."

"I will," I smiled. "Eliwood's helped me out of a jam before, so I owe the guy." To that, the magistrate smiled.

"It was good to meet you, Sean," he told me. "Good luck on your journey!"

I was about to wave goodbye, when I heard another familiar voice.

"Sean! Wait!" shouted Rebecca as she ran to where I was. She was carrying her bow and her quiver was attached to the back of her belt. "Are you really leaving with Lord Eliwood?"

"Yeah," I told her. "It's been great meeting you, Rebecca. I hope we'll see each other ag-" I stopped when I realized that Rebecca was going to walk right past me and her father.

"Rebecca! Where do you think you're going, young lady?" demanded the magistrate.

"Father, I... I intend to accompany Lord Eliwood," she told him.

"Don't be ridiculous, girl!" he replied. "Lord Eliwood is not going on a picnic. He's riding into danger."

"I know that, Father," sighed Rebecca. "That's why I want to go. We owe them our lives, and I want to repay him. My bow may not be all that much, but I know I can be of service!"

"But..."

"And, Father..." she continued, softer this time. "I may meet up with my brother somewhere. You're the magistrate-- you have responsibilities. I... This is all I can offer. I need to do this! Please, Father! Let me go!"

It was at that moment that I realized that Rebecca was way more mature than I had originally thought. Hell, she was almost definitely more mature than I was when Lyn found me on the Sacae Plains. This girl, only 15 years old, was willing to risk her life to find her lost brother, and was fully aware of the dangers involved. And she was well aware of her father's commitment to her and her village.

"Dear me... You're just as stubborn as your mother was," sighed the magistrate, obviously defeated.

"I'm sorry, Father..." she replied with a sad smile.

"You must bow to Lord Eliwood's wishes on this matter," he finally told her. "If he consents, you may go."

Rebecca's smile brightened, and she pulled her old man into a tight hug. "Thank you, Father!"

I could see a tear leaving the man's eye as he hugged her back. "Lord Elbert has always been kind of us. Follow his son with a true heart, Rebecca. Serve Lord Eliwood well, as I have served his father."

"I will, Father!" she smiled, releasing him and turning toward me. "I will inform Lord Eliwood, Sean. I'll see you at the town gate." With that, she ran toward the entrance, leaving me and the magistrate.

"That girl's going to go far in life," I told him. "I don't think you'll have to worry about her too much."

"I hope you're right," chuckled the magistrate. "Still, I would appreciate it if you could watch over her for me, Sean. After my wife left this world, my daughter was the only one I had left. I will pray for her safety every night."

"You do that," I told him. "The goal of all of my strategies is to have everyone live by the end of the battle. I treat everyone who fights with me as a friend, and I consider the loss of even one as too much. I'll make sure that she'll be able to see you again."

"I thank you, Sean," he told me. "Now, run along. They are most certainly waiting for you."

"Thank you again, sir," I told him, and began to make my way toward the town gate. Everyone was packing and ready to take their leave. And here, I knew, was going to be the start of another long journey. Another trial for the teenage tactician...

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this took so long! I had a lot of stuff going on in my life and couldn't find the time to finish this. Plus, I went through like, 3 ideas for this chapter before settling on this one. One of the things that bugged me was, "Where was the tactician staying before this chapter?" Lowen mentioned that Sean was staying in an inn, but if you talk to a guy in a house during the level, you'll find that there was a "young traveler been stayin' with the magistrate," obviously referring to the tactician. I figured that a magistrate wouldn't live in the inn, so there was a problem to the opening part. Plus, there was the problem of how the tactician presents himself to Eliwood. If he was riding on the back of Lowen's horse, why did Eliwood not notice him until he got off? Ah, the troubles of translating game logic into real life..._

_The dialogue from the guy in the house gave me the idea of the rumors, since people obviously noticed Sean in the village. Add the fact that Rebecca is the magistrate's daughter that grew up next to Wil, and the fact that Wil's been writing home for this whole time, and I think I made a successful combination of events that tied together all of the continuity errors. Feel free to tell me otherwise!_

_I also took the opportunity to throw in some random jokes throughout the chapter, which I'm sure made some of you groan (if you caught them, that is). I don't know why, but I just felt good writing them, and putting in some 'from Earth' elements with Sean seemed to please readers in the last story. Again, I try to make Sean be his normal, awkward self as much as possible, but I still want him to have grown enough to be dynamic. Not Gary Stu, just grown up. If you spot anything that's off with that goal, please, let me know._

_There might be some time before the next chapter is out. (I need to play that level of the game again =P). Until then, accept my apologies, and I'll have the chapter out as soon as it's ready!_

_Please Review!_


	3. Chapter 2: Birds of a Feather

_A/N: Hey everyone! So, I know it's been over 6 months since my last update, but trust me_, _I've been really busy. And I've tried really hard to work on this story, since I know that people are waiting for it. I probably lost some of my earlier readers in the process of writing this, though. Earlier readers, please read and review this!_

_Stupid writer's block._

_Anyway, I now have the next few chapters already written, so you can expect a regular updates for a while. I'll try for once a week. Until then, enjoy the (I hope) long-awaited update to Trials of a Teenage Tactician!  
_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 2: Birds of a Feather

"...and that's basically what happened," I finished. I had just told the story of the Academy, and about Darius and the Black Fang, to my new traveling buddies. We were sitting around the campfire the night after saving the Pheraean village from Groznyi's goons, and were enjoying dinner courtesy of Lowen (who was a surprisingly good cook) until Eliwood began wondering what happened to me after the Academy Incident. Considering the fact that Eliwood's kidnapped old man was the only (albeit shaky) lead I had to Darius's plans, I figured that I'd be sticking with him for a long time. Hell, considering the way things went after meeting Lyn a year before, I figured that I'd be sticking with Eliwood for this entire quest. As such, I decided it was best to share my story. We all know what happened last year, when I didn't share my story with my friends. Frankly, I'd _really _rather not get kidnapped and have the crap beaten out of me again.

Of course, my inherent nerdliness meant that I was pretty much predestined to be beaten up regardless. Stupid stereotype...

"So, you think that something is going to happen in Lycia," said Lowen.

"The Black Fang... I had hoped we would never cross blades with them again," sighed Dorcas.

"This is most troubling," said Marcus, putting his plate down. "The Black Fang is not a group to be trifled with, but for them to lay siege to our Academy? What in the world is Bern thinking?"

"It is quite possible that King Desmond has no idea about this," said Eliwood. "I do not see any reason for him to risk inciting a war with Lycia."

"The fact that no one knows that the Black Fang was responsible for the Academy Incident means that they didn't _want _anyone to know," I told him. "If they wanted to incite a war with Lycia, they'd want us to believe that Bern was behind it. But as far as everyone knows, it was Balan and a bunch of bandits that burned the hall down, not the Black Fang or Bern. My guess is that this is why they brought Ganelon into this in the first place."

"That does make sense," said Eliwood. "I am pleased that you are with us, Sean. Thank you for telling us all of this."

"But, there's still something that's bothering me," Marcus interjected. "If the Black Fang didn't want anyone to know, how are you still alive, Sean? You were present during the Academy Incident, and you actually know who was responsible. If everything is as you say it is, it would have been the best decision for them to silence you."

"I've been wondering about that for the past three months," I sighed. "I think that Darius wants me for something. I don't know what, but... I just have a feeling that something big is going to happen. And I think that your dad's disappearance is a key to figuring out what exactly that something is."

"I will make sure to ask him once he is found," sighed Eliwood. "I just hope that Laus may be able to tell us his location."

"Until that time comes, milord, I suggest we look toward the nearer future," said Marcus. "Now, we are worn from our battle with Groznyi, and so my suggestion is that we rest for the night and consider our options in the morning."

"I agree," I smiled.

"I will take care of the dishes," said Rebecca, taking my plate.

"Thank you, Rebecca," smiled Eliwood. I could see Rebecca blush slightly as she took the lord's plate.

"Heh, that lord seems to have a way with the ladies, doesn't he?" Bartre chuckled quietly. I nodded in agreement. How many girls have I met so far that had crushes on him? How did he do it? Was it his polite gentlemanly nature? His strong handsome features? His beautiful sapphire eyes? Hell, if I wasn't a 100% heterosexual male...

Okay, I should probably stop thinking about this right now.

Anyway, we all gathered our plates, which Rebecca took to the nearby river to clean. I was about to make my way to my tent, when I was stopped by a strong hand on my shoulder.

"Here we go again, eh, Sean?" laughed Dorcas. "Just like old times... Seems our fates are bound."

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied. "What are the chances that we'd just randomly meet up like this again? How's Natalie doing?"

"Natalie? Oh, she's still in Pherae," said Dorcas. "We moved to that nearby village soon after I returned to Bern. I'm working for you this time, so she's not too worried. I was hoping to find a suitable treatment for her illness in Lycia, however, I still need to earn the gold for the treatment. That's when I met Bartre."

"And you two became the resident bandit exterminators, I'm guessing?"

Dorcas chuckled. "You know, Sean, you've really grown this past year."

"Really?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure you were two heads taller than me last year as well."

"That's not what I mean," laughed the axe-wielder. "Your way of reasoning, your ability to consider your current situation and plan accordingly, and your awareness of the lives of your comrades. It seems to me that you have matured greatly. You have, in my eyes, become a real tactician, and it will be my honor to fight alongside you again. Guide my axe, Sean."

I was pretty much speechless. Dorcas was one guy who was always able to encourage me to keep going, no matter how badly I do or how impossible the situation becomes. Someone like that, it was no wonder that Natalie loved him so much. He would make a terrific husband, and a father.

"I'll make sure to not let you down, Dorcas," I replied after a short pause. "I don't know how I'd face Natalie if you didn't come home safely." To that, Dorcas smiled and made his way to the tent he was sharing with Bartre. I went to my own tent, undid my green cloak, and lay down next to the candle that was my only light source. I lay there for a little while, watching the flicker of the tiny candle flame dance.

"No pressure..." I whispered to myself, and blew out the candle.

* * *

A couple of days passed. We had a pretty much uneventful march. The road from Pherae to Laus passes through the territory of Santaruz. It was early in the afternoon when we reached the southeastern border, so we decided to set up camp on a nearby hill.

Hooray for manual labor.

Well, setting up camp took place for about an hour. Dorcas and Bartre went to gather some firewood, and Rebecca followed to do some hunting for our next meal. Lowen and I unpacked some of the supplies that were riding with him on his horse. Finally, Marcus and Eliwood set up the tents. Once it was all finished, everyone just sat down on the grass. We were all wiping sweat from our brows, happy that the sun was lowering so the air was beginning to cool down. It wasn't long before Marcus and Eliwood wanted a word with me in their tent.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I would like to ask for some advice from you, Sean," said Eliwood. "Although I highly suspect that my father has passed through Santaruz en route to Ostia, I do not wish to be a burden to Lord Helman, especially if it will delay our journey to Laus. Therefore, I suggest that we simply make our way to Laus, rather than stay here for longer than one night. I wished to ask of your opinion before following through with this course of action."

He wanted my opinion? Oh right: I'm the tactician. Of course he would want my opinion.

"Uh... Well... if we just go straight to Laus..." I started. I probably sounded unsure, considering there was an uncomfortable pause after I began my sentence, and Eliwood and Marcus were looking at me intently. I sighed. Some tactician I was, I couldn't even keep my words straight.

"Sean, I understand that we are putting a bit of pressure on you," said Marcus. "However, although you are young, you are our tactician. It is your duty to keep us going in a sensible direction, and so when we bring forth a proposition, _you_ must approve of it before we make the final decision."

Yeah, that really lowers the pressure, Marcus. Why did I have to be a tactician? Well, I was and still am a math geek, so might as well go through this step-by-step like the math geeks do. "Okay, suppose there _is _a connection between Laus and Lord Elbert's disappearance," I began again. "Then, if we go over there asking about it, they're bound to become defensive, right?"

"That would be a natural response," said Marcus.

"Now, there are different levels of 'defensive'," I continued. "Considering the fact that Marquess Laus is, as Rebecca's father put it, 'preparing for war', I think his defensiveness may involve force. Although our group is prepared to take on anything that comes at us while we're on the road, I think we'll be in trouble if we're to go face Laus's military."

"That is true..." sighed Eliwood. "You are a tactician famous for facing overwhelming odds, though."

"Overwhelming odds are still something I'd rather not face," I smiled. "It is a bad idea for us to just hope for the best. That way of thinking will probably get us killed. Frankly, I'd rather have a few more people with us before we go face Laus's military. It will slow us down a little bit, but I think the choice between living and dying will simplify this decision a bit more. So, instead of entering Laus with such a small group, we should meet with Marquess Santaruz and request his assistance."

"That is a good idea," said Marcus.

"Yes, I agree," smiled Eliwood. "Marcus, inform the nearest guard post of our arrival, and have them send word to Lord Helman. We will wait for you here."

"It will be done, my lord," Marcus bowed, and left the tent. About a minute later, we could hear the familiar galloping of his horse.

"The courier system of Santaruz is quite efficient," said Eliwood. "A line of small guard posts stretch from here to the castle, and each post has a messenger that can deliver the message to the next guard post. This continues until it reaches the castle. Our word should reach Lord Helman within the hour."

"And, my guess is that it will be at least another hour before we get a reply," I reasoned, to which Eliwood nodded. "Well, that gives us about 2 hours to waste. What can we do until then."

The red-haired lord paused for a few seconds, probably thinking about what could be done to pass the time. He then looked up, and a smirk appeared on his lordly face.

"Wh-What?" I asked. That smirk made me nervous. Eliwood moved over to a box he kept in the corner, and pulled out two long objects that I was all too familiar with. He tossed me one, which I caught after almost dropping it a few times. Eliwood then pointed the tip of his toward me.

"En Guarde..." he smirked.

Aw crap...

* * *

"Touché," smiled Eliwood as the tip of his practice sword touched my shoulder. I fell over, gasping for breath. We had been fencing for about an hour at that point, and I had not managed to land a single hit on the guy. He was better than Conner ever was.

"I told you... I was never... good at this," I panted. "Only class... I did badly in... at the Academy." To that, the lord smiled, extending his hand to help me up.

"You weren't bad, Sean," he told me as I took his hand. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're kidding," I replied, still out of breath. "How many hits... have you got on me in the past hour?"

"I believe it was 37," said Rebecca with an amused smile.

"And I got... zero," I told him. "In terms of our point ratios, I'd say you're _infinitely _better than I am."

Eliwood chuckled. "While that is true, Sean, I can tell you this. You excel at dodging and defense. I did have a hard time trying to hit you. In fact, the only openings for a strike that I had were when you were trying to attack."

"Yeah, well, unfortunately I have to actually attack to win a fight," I muttered. "So far all that I can do is run away."

"Well, that explains why your job is a tactician, lad," laughed Bartre. "You just sit back and plan, and leave the fightin' to us!"

Thanks for the boost of confidence, Bartre...

"Sean does very well at his job, Bartre," said Rebecca. "And he is very good at staying alive. You should have seen him run from Groznyi!"

"You guys are such good friends..." I muttered sarcastically. To that, everyone laughed.

"Anyway, I have delivered the message to the guard post," said Marcus. "It should reach the castle shortly."

"It's getting late," I sighed. "I'm beginning to wonder if this was a good idea. Maybe we should just head out first thing in the morning..."

"But, Sean, we agreed to your idea," said Eliwood. "After all, it was your reasoning that convinced us."

"Instead of entering Laus with such a small group, we should meet with Marquess Santaruz and request his assistance..." Marcus repeated for me. "I see the sense in that. It's a good plan, Sean."

"Truly so," Eliwood smiled. "I tell you again, I'm pleased to have you with us. Lord Helman... He's not only my father's friend. I've known him since I was a child. I'm sure that he will help us."

"Oh, you already knew him. That's good," I smiled. Okay, he knew Lord Helman, so this would probably make negotiations easier. There was a short pause before Marcus stepped protectively in front of Eliwood.

"Lord Eliwood! Beware!"

"Of what?" I asked. Just then, a chubby orange-haired guy carrying made his way toward us, with a couple of what looked like large, scary looking people carrying axes. My guess was... bandits. "Oh, of that..."

"Heh heh heh... Noble sirs. Alms for a poor villager," he said with a very dishonest-looking grin. Yep, definitely bandit.

"Poor villager?" growled Marcus. "You look nothing like an honest man. Clear the road. Step quickly or..."

"Step quickly?" smirked the bandit. "Heh heh... Good advice. Maybe it's you who should follow it!"

"What?" Marcus asked. The bandit stepped forward.

"Someone wants the boy in an early grave. A shame if you ask me, but he'll die here today."

"Guys! Get ready!" I shouted at the rest of our group. "We've got a guy who wants Eliwood dead!"

"C'mon boys! Earn your keep!" shouted the bandit.

I heard an almost unanimous "Yes, boss Zagan!" from the mountain, and a rather large horde of bandits came out of the lone mountain next to our hill and made themselves known. They scattered over the surrounding area, through the trees and the plains.

"Okay, more specifically, we've got a _bunch of guys_ who want who want Eliwood dead!" I shouted again.

The chubby orange-haired guy laughed and ran toward the mountain, and several bandits covered him as he made his way to the back.

"Why does the leader always leave and go to the back after approaching us?" I asked Marcus.

"I honestly don't know," the older knight shrugged, mounting his horse. The question very quickly left my mind after I saw Rebecca, Dorcas, Bartre, and Lowen readied for a fight. Eliwood then emerged from his tent, and drew his trusty rapier.

"Alright, Sean, what do you make of this situation?"

What do I make of it? I hate bandits. Really, really hate them. Seriously, after all that traveling with Lyn, and then on my own, and now with Eliwood, I've probably had to beat off enough bandits to cover the population of a major city. And that was just the ones that _I've_ faced! In a _YEAR!_ You'd think like 70% of the population of this freakin' continent was just bandits. Large, ugly, axe or sword wielding men, or shrimpy, ugly bowmen. And, considering the severe lack of females in each bandit group I have thus faced (if I calculated right... 0% female), I am positive that the percentile can't possibly be that high.

And on that note, why aren't _women_ this attracted to me?

"Sean?" asked Eliwood, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, right, strategy," I said, going back to being a tactician. "Okay, the bandits are evidently being paid to take out Eliwood, which means that they're going to be coming toward us. However, keeping in mind that these are _bandits_, they'll probably pillage any nearby village while coming toward us. So, first task is to keep them from attacking civilians."

"I will take care of that," said Marcus. "I will return to the campsite shortly!" And he rode off to warn a nearby village of the bandits.

"Alright, next up. Because the bandits will just be moving toward us, they probably won't do some coordinated ambush from behind or anything like that. But, we can be certain that they won't give in until we take down every single one of them. Now, I'm going to assume that they have a lot, since we're talking about bandits after gold. If we can get some of Marquess Santaruz's men to help out, this will be much, much easier. My guess is, that's what the guard posts are for."

"I will go inform the guard post," said Lowen, mounting his horse.

"Okay, finally, we have to protect Eliwood," I told everyone. "But, as you are all aware, Eliwood is more than capable of defending himself. This means that the rest of you guys just have to reduce the numbers by the time they reach Eliwood, and back him up if he engages in combat." I turned to Dorcas. "Dorcas, I'm trusting you to be Rebecca's guard. With only a bow, she can only take out so many before they try to attack her. You're her guardian for this battle."

"I will do as you say, Sean," smiled Dorcas.

"Rebecca, do what you have to with that bow of yours," I told her. "And protect Eliwood just like you protected your village."

"I-I will, Sean," the pig-tailed girl smiled.

"Bartre, protect Eliwood's left side, and, if possible, use the throwing axe to take out people before they get close."

"I'll make sure that nothin' gets past me, tactician," smiled the axe-wielder.

"Finally, Eliwood, move with the group and take down any bandit that gets close enough for you to hit," I finished.

"It shall be done, Sean," smiled the lord.

I was pretty proud of my self. I hated making decisions on the spot, but I think this strategizing worked pretty well. And here, with every move I could think of out on the table, I just had to wait for the outcome of the battle to see if what I said was any good.

"Alright guys, let's go kick some bandit tail!"

* * *

Well, it was a good plan. With our formation, we were able to successfully whittle down approaching bandit forces before they could reach Eliwood, and our favorite red-head fought perfectly with his sword skills that managed to beat me 37 to 0. There was one small hitch in the plan, though.

The guard post was empty.

For some reason, that guard post that Marcus delivered the message to had no one in it. It was emptied in the hour it took for the message to get through to the castle. That meant that we were alone facing all of those bandits.

"What should we do, Sean?" asked Lowen, batting away another brigand with his sword. "Without reinforcements we are grossly outnumbered."

"There are too many bandits," I muttered. "We have to switch to an even more defensive strategy. We can't afford anyone getting injured since we have such a small group!"

"DIE!" I turned just in time to see that a swordsman was about to slice me in two symmetrical halves. I jumped to one side, and Rebecca retaliated by launching an arrow at the attacker's neck, killing him instantly.

"You have to think fast, Sean!" she shouted.

My brain started going into overdrive. 'Crap, crap, crap... Think Sean! What can we use? If there's no more people...'

"Sean!" Eliwood's shout was enough to snap me out of my thoughts as I realized there was a hand axe coming my way.

"Gah!" I screamed as I cocked my head to one side. The axe whizzed by me, missing me by a mere inch. Before the bandit could attack me again, Eliwood had stepped in front of him and, with a quick jab of his blade, stabbed him in the leg. The bandit fell over in pain, and with a quick kick from the lord's boot, was able to knock him out cold.

"There's too many of them for us to fight like this," growled Eliwood.

"They just keeping coming," I muttered. "As long as they keep aiming at Eliwood, we'll eventually get them all, but that's no good if we get too tired to finish this! Damn it, what to do? What to do?"

"We can't keep going like this!" shouted Lowen, obviously out of breath. "There has to be a better way!"

"I know!" I replied, racking my brain for answers. Damn it! I didn't go through 9 months of training at the Pheraean Academy under Bern's best tactician to be stumped by a bunch of stupid bandits. I was able to come up with strategies without training when I was with Lyn! What was wrong with me?

_Too tense..._

That thought came out of nowhere. Too tense? It almost sounded like my brain wanted me to get a massage. I then realized how frantic I was with trying to come up with a perfect strategy. Because I was trying so hard to quickly think of a move, I had lost my focus on our current situation. I knew I had to cool it.

'Okay, calm down, Sean,' I thought to myself, taking a deep breath. 'What do we need? Resources. Okay... terrain... hills? No, they'll have as much an advantage from there as we would. If only we had some of the Santaruz soldiers around, but that stupid guard post is empty. Stupid... empty...'

"Guard post!" I immediately realized. "Rebecca, get to that empty guard post, and fire your arrows from there! It'll be a natural defense for you and you'll have a better view of the battlefield!"

"I'm on it!" she shouted, darting toward the post. I immediately noticed some bandits approach her, but Marcus was able to knock them back before they could hit her.

"I'm going with her to get a better view as well," I told everyone. "Dorcas, Bartre, Lowen, cover me, and then you're in charge of taking out anyone who gets near me and Rebecca. Eliwood, stay near the guard post and lure everyone toward us. Take out anyone who manages to get to you. Marcus, you get any ranged attackers that aren't already shot with an arrow."

Everyone nodded and made toward the tiny fortress that was just recently emptied. Rebecca made her way to the top level of the fortress and began firing her arrows at the bandits. As predicted, they all decided to approach Eliwood, and stupidly kept dying because of it. Well, it was stupid for a little while until they got wise.

"Surround them, you fools!" shouted a brigand from the back. "Spread out!" They did as they were told, and soon enough, they had us within their web. Rebecca found it harder to hit the smaller individual targets, and couldn't fire quick enough to take them all out. After that, they began charging toward us. We were still outnumbered as well, so the strategy did pose a bit more difficult for our small group to face.

Of course, spreading themselves thin had its advantages for our close-range attackers. Dorcas, Bartre, and Lowen had a much easier time dealing with the individual bandit groups rather than a large clump of them, and thanks to Marcus, they were out of ranged attacks. Their numbers quickly lowered to match our own, and from there, the fight was done. The bandits had lost their advantages of surprise and numbers, and the skills of our fighters was more than enough to take care of the stragglers.

"Finished," I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good job, guys!"

"That was a rather difficult battle," sighed Dorcas. "My arm will be sore in the morning."

"That was some good thinking about the guard post, Sean," smiled Marcus. "Lord Eliwood, are you well?"

"I will be fine," smiled the red-haired lord. "I'm just happy that we were able to push them back at the last moment."

"But, why were they attacking us in the first place?" asked Lowen. "They were after Lord Eliwood, but it's not normal for bandits to try to attack a lord without reason, especially one who has an entourage with him."

"That's been bothering me as well," said Marcus. "There were too many bandits this close to the castle. It was almost like they were planning for us."

"That's a good point," I spoke up. "Why were there so many bandits? You'd think that they'd avoid being close to the knights of Santaruz. I mean, that boss guy said..." I paused, an uneasy feeling crept up my spine as I realized something so obvious. "Hey guys, we never fought the fat boss guy, did we?"

There was a silence among the group as I said that, which was broken by a hand axe catching Eliwood on the shoulder.

"AH!" the lord gasped, falling to the ground and holding his bleeding shoulder. Well, shit...

"Milord!" shouted Marcus. The older knight unsheathed his sword. "Show yourself, coward!" he shouted.

"As you wish," a familiar voice laughed from behind Eliwood. I turned to see the fat bastard, axe in hand, walk out from behind some rocks, along with a few more cronies. He smirked and swung his weapon at the bleeding lord. It was too late for anyone to reach him by the time he began his swing. Eliwood looked ready to brace for impact.

_THWACK!_

Zagan was stopped by a hand-axe embedding itself in his back. I looked over toward Dorcas and Bartre, but they were both in front of the bandit, and couldn't have used the axe. Who-?

"Eliwood! Are you alright?"

A large young man in blue armor (and, as it turns out, blue hair) made his way toward the bleeding lord. Eliwood's eyes widened as he saw who it was.

"Hector! What are you-" he began.

"Later! First, let's take care of these louts," Hector interrupted, readying his axe against the stragglers. Eliwood managed to stand up slightly as well.

"Right," the red-haired lord nodded, reaching into his satchel. "I'll need to apply a vulnerary first."

"I'll cover you," said Hector. "Heal yourself and we'll knock the rest of these fools back to the Scouring."

As soon as he finished his words, Bartre readied his hand-axe and took out one of the stragglers. Rebecca fired another arrow at one of the swordsman, which hit him between the eyes. Marcus and Lowen then charged in, aiding Hector in taking out another bandit. I was just kind of on the side at that point. _Hector... Hector... where have I heard that name before?_

"C-Curses!" I turned to see whose voice had just interrupted my thoughts. Just as I thought, fat boss guy, who was apparently more or less unfazed by the hand-axe.

Man, I hate it when I'm right...

"What are you waiting for?" screamed Zagan.

"Th-they're too strong..." one of the remaining bandits trembled. "S-Sorry boss! No money is worth this..."

"For the love of- FINE!" Zagan shouted. "Let me show you how it's done!" He picked up his axe.

"Hector, watch out!" I shouted as the fat boss charged forward. Hector was about to charge as well, when a javelin flew out from the side, catching Zagan in the leg. The bandit leader fell over, leaving a small crater in the ground as he landed. At the sound, the remaining bandits bolted, leaving him by himself. The owner of the javalin revealed himself: a heavily armored knight wearing orange armor. He was tall, looked about in his thirties, and had dark green hair. Gotta love the green hair.

"Oswin!" Hector exclaimed.

"Allow me, milord," smiled the knight, taking his lance and stabbing Zagan. The bandit leader jolted at the lance impaling him.

"Oh... aaurr... This... was not... so easy... as it seemed..." His body went limp after the words left his lips.

"Whew, is that all of them?" asked Hector. Eliwood finished applying the vulnerary and stood up, his wound mostly closing.

"Hector! What are you doing here?" asked the red-haired lord.

"Well met, Eliwood," Hector replied sarcastically.

Eliwood seemed a bit at a lost for words. "Yes, but... what are you doing here?"

"You wound me!" Hector replied.

Eliwood raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"

"You're looking for your father, right?" asked the blue-haired axe-wielder. "Why didn't you send word?"

"Your brother was just named Marquess Ostia," said Eliwood. "He's going to be very busy setting up his court council. Lord Uther must need your support. You are his brother, after all."

"His brother..." I whispered, and then it all came together. Lord Hector of Ostia, the second son of Ostia's previous rulers who had died of a sudden illness just a month before, known for his straightforward and blunt mannerisms, as well as his general disdain for authority! I never realized that he was friends with Eliwood. I had to admit, for being in that world for only a year, I made some pretty sweet connections.

"My brother is not so weak," smiled Hector. "Oh, he has mentioned some things in public, but... He knew exactly what I was planning, and he let me go."

"Is that so?" laughed Eliwood. "Well then, it would be unwise to refuse his kindness! It does me good to see you, Hector. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it," smiled Hector. "You know Oswin, don't you?"

"Well met, Lord Eliwood," the orange knight bowed.

"It is good to see you again, Oswin," smiled Eliwood. "So you came as well?"

"Yes," replied Oswin. "Lord Uther was worried about Lord Hector traveling alone. I've been ordered to keep a close eye on him."

Eliwood laughed. "Of course! Good to have you with us."

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise," said Marcus, dismounting his horse next to me.

"I'll say," I replied. "Who would've thought that we'd bump into another lord in the middle of this-"

"Lord Hector! Why didn't you tell me the fighting was done!"

I stopped as soon as I heard it. That voice. It couldn't be...

"I apologize for the interruption. I couldn't restrain her any longer!" another voice piped up.

Oh... no freaking way...

"Are these your companions, Hector?" asked Eliwood.

"Oh... Yes, I suppose they are," grumbled the blue-haired lord. "One might have hoped for better, but..."

"That was uncalled for!" the shrill female voice shouted. "I can't believe you said that! Matthew, did you hear what he said about you?"

"Me? He was talking about you!"

"M-Matthew? Serra!" I managed to say. Both of them turned toward me. Matthew smiled and made a greeting-like gesture, while Serra... let's just say that I had to cover my ears from the sound that would pierce my ears about a second later.

Unfortunately, that didn't help me brace myself for a pink-haired cleric's sudden glomp, which nearly knocked me over.

"Eeeeeeee! Sean! Is it really you? It's been far, far too long! You missed me, didn't you?" Serra began babbling.

"Er... S-Serra, I-"

"Of course you did. I knew it!" she smiled. I'm pretty sure I was red as a tomato, given the brain malfunctions that seemed to affect me whenever a pretty girl was within a certain proximity of me. And I'm pretty sure that Serra was within that proximity, since she was clinging onto me. Well, I can't really say I wasn't enjoying the feeling. As annoying as that cleric girl was, she really _was_ cute. If only she would just... shut... up...

Eliwood had to laugh at the scene. "Hector, why don't you introduce us?"

"The noisy one, who seems very attached to your companion over there, is Serra," said Hector. "Believe it or not, she's a cleric." At those words, Serra immediately let me go, which allowed me to complete the half-finished fall that she was preventing when she grabbed me.

"Yes, I am Serra, my lord," she bowed. "Pleased to meet you."

"It is a pleasure, Serra," smiled Eliwood. I swear, I saw a faint blush appear on her cheeks as he showed his teeth. Damn it, how does he do that?

"Ah! Dorcas! It's been so long!" shouted the cleric, and ran toward our axe-wielder.

"And that's Matthew," said Hector, ignoring Serra and pointing to the blonde-haired thief. "He does a lot of... sneaking around."

"My lord," Matthew bowed.

"Sneaking... around..." said Eliwood, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... I, er... gather information, open doors, chests, and such. I've got... nimble fingers," Matthew elaborated.

"That sounds... like a thief's work..." said Eliwood.

"Well... Don't let it worry you," smiled Hector.

"But..."

"This journey... I suspect it will be harder than you imagine," said Hector. "You may have to accept things like this if you want to survive."

"What is it, Hector? Do you know something?" asked Eliwood.

"Nothing specific," Hector began. "Rumors abound, though. A league of assassins from Bern has been moving around in Lycia."

My ears perked up at this, and Eliwood's eyes widened as well as he looked toward me. Assassins from Bern? The _Black Fang_? I was simply following a possible lead, but to think that we could face them so soon was, well, just plain terrifying.

"That reminds me," Eliwood began. "One of the men who attacked us said something odd."

"What was it?" asked Hector.

"Lord Eliwood, if I may?" Marcus interjected, making his way to the two lords.

"Marcus! Good to see you!" exclaimed Hector.

"Lord Hector, it's been far too long. Your assistance is greatly appreciated," smiled the old knight.

"Come now, Marcus. No need for such formalities. Tell me what you heard."

"Of course," said Marcus. "The apparent leader of that gang of thugs... He indicated that someone was watching Lord Eliwood... That someone needed him dead."

_If the Black Fang really is in Lycia, why would they be after Eliwood? _I kept wondering.

"Hmm... That is troubling," Hector pondered. "Actually, a captain of the guard was watching the fight when we arrived. He was a knight of Santaruz, and yet he just stood there and let a lord be attacked. I think he was planning on seeing you die."

"A captain of the guard?" I wondered aloud. "That means that..." I turned toward the castle. "Oh... shit..."

"So, Sean, what do you think?" asked Eliwood. "Is something troubling you?"

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," I told him. "A captain of the guard was willing to watch you die even though you're Lord Helman's friend, and we get attacked by a bandit gang right after a note should have reached the castle. Furthermore, the guard post where there are normally guards gets emptied out as soon as we get attacked. I can't say that I can give you a reason for all of this, but I think something is happening inside the castle that will prevent us from having a safe trip through here."

Eliwood paused, taking in what I had just said. "You might be right. Something may have happened to Lord Helman, too. Come! We must hurry to the castle!"

"Eliwood! Who is this?" asked Hector.

"This is Sean," said Eliwood. "I required tactical aid in the search for my father, and..."

"Oh, I see," said Hector. "So this is the one who directed the battle plan back there, hm? You know, Sean, you're very young. We've many strategists in Ostia, but none so young. Eliwood, are you sure about this one?"

Eliwood nodded. "Sean is still a student of military strategy, but... We've received nothing but sound advice so far. Sean has my trust."

"Thanks Eliwood," I smiled.

"All right. I suppose I shall witness your skills firsthand. Well met, Sean," smiled Hector, extending a hand out to me. I gladly took it.

"Likewise, Lord Hector," I replied.

"So, what are your thoughts, Sean?" asked Matthew, coming up behind me.

"Matthew! It's been way too long!" I exclaimed.

"Hello! How have you been, Sean?" smiled the thief. Or rather...

"So... how long have you been working for Ostia?" I asked. Matthew looked startled, which I chuckled at. "It's kind of obvious now, isn't it? I mean, you talk with Hector like you're old buddies, and it seems kind of weird that a thief would know a lord that well. Plus, even if you guys were just acquaintances, I can't see you turning down a chance to make some cash by working for a lord of Lycia's ruling territory."

"Ha! Ever the tactician, eh, Sean?" laughed Matthew. "My guise as a common thief was but a ruse. I've served House Ostia for some time as a spy of sorts! Suprised? Well, regardless, it looks like we'll be traveling together again. Here's to our mutual survival!" Matthew held his hand out to me.

"Here here!" I replied, taking his hand. I had to say that I was pleased that our group was growing. I was having flashbacks of when we were traveling with Lyn and people just kept joining. Heck, who would've thought that I'd randomly bump into Dorcas, Matthew, _and_ Serra again, just by sheer luck. At the rate we were going, our old group would be back together within a couple of weeks.

Of course, a couple of weeks would be too long to prevent the dangers that were probably at the castle at that point, and so our small, ragtag group of heroes would have to go save Lord Helman on our own. Stupid overwhelming odds.

* * *

_A/N: And there's the chapter! Hopefully, this was a good enough to account for over 6 months of waiting. Hector has been introduced, and, as anyone who has played the game will know, he is a major character in Fire Emblem. And I hope that Sean is still the same, but still a matured tactician._

_I tried to stick pretty close to the game for this chapter. The "guard post" was simply one of the fortresses on the game map, and I used the dialogue between Ephidel and Helman in the game to put the characters where they were. Of course, since the POV of this story is first-person limited, we don't get to see that dialogue in this story. I do everything I can to make this story plausible within the context of the game story, which, by the way, is why I stick almost religiously to the game dialogue. I just like adding my own inserts in between so that it's not exactly the same thing you've seen over and over again.  
_

_In case you couldn't tell, I just attempted to justify my laziness. __Review!_


	4. Chapter 3: In Search of Truth

_A/N: I know everyone was tired of having me complain about reviews on the previous story, so I won't really get into that. I just want to say that reviews are a lot of what keeps me writing fanfiction, and what keeps me writing at my best. I have a plan for this entire story: how it unfolds, what twists will happen, relationships (I've been getting questions about that) and character development. It's the reader's expressions of enjoyment (or criticism), however, that keeps me motivated to see the plan to the end, which is why I like getting reviews. So please, if you do read this story, take a little time to leave me some feedback.  
_

_And that's the review rant for the week. Enjoy the next chapter!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 3: In Search of Truth

The area around Santaruz was rather expansive. The castle was surrounded by a river that flowed down from the northern mountains and forked around it. Across the river, to the east and north, were two small villages that apparently served as the main markets for the territory. Our approach took us slightly northwest of the castle.

My thoughts were fairly clear as we approached the castle. We run in, beat down anyone who tried to do anything to Lord Helman, rescue him, and then fortify ourselves with the spare soldiers of Castle Santaruz to take out the remaining forces. It was a standard blitzkrieg strategy that, by all means, should work just fine so long as we all focus completely on breaking through to the castle.

My thoughts stopped being so clear when the castle itself got into plain sight.

"There's the castle, Eliwood!" exclaimed Hector.

"Sweet," I muttered. "Seems peaceful enough. Maybe I _was_ being a little paranoid."

"Regardless, I'm glad we came," Eliwood smiled. "We have to speak with Lord Helman..."

Like I said once before, just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after me... or Eliwood in this case.

"That's not going to happen, laddie!" a voice bellowed from across the river. We looked to see a green-bearded bald knight shouting at us.

"Who are you?" demanded Eliwood.

"Who am I? Ah, boy, you'd do better to worry about yourself!" laughed the knight. "You'll be worm's meat before much longer."

Hector stepped forward, readying his axe. "You think so? I think my axe'll change your mind."

The Ostian lord's threatening tone seemed to scare baldie a little, since he backed away. "H-Ha! The cub thinks he's a wolf! Does your bite match your bark?" he laughed. "Tell you what, if you make it to the castle alive, we'll find out, eh?" And with that, he ran off toward the castle, laughing the entire way.

"I think you scared him, Lord Hector," said Matthew.

"Feh, a coward," muttered Hector. "Come on, we need not worry about him anymore. Let's get to storming the castle!"

I looked over toward the castle, and realized something. "Er... not so sure about that," I told him. "I think there are more coming out."

Everyone looked at the castle, and saw the same thing I did. There were troops mobilizing outside in order to block our only route to the castle.

"This looks troublesome," muttered Oswin.

"Indeed," said Marcus. "It seems that bandits have overrun Santaruz Castle. This won't be an easy fight."

"We're going to storm that castle," said Eliwood. "We don't have a choice anymore. Lord Helman is still in there!"

"Eliwood's right," I muttered. "But they're focusing on the only route that we have to the castle. Which means..." I paused, taking in the surroundings. Seeing the village across the river, I smiled. "...we need another route."

"Sean, do you have something in mind?" asked Marcus.

"It'll thin out our forces a bit, but, we may be able to use something akin to a blitzkrieg strategy after all," I told him. "Your tactician has a plan."

* * *

"Kill them! Don't let a single one of them through!" shouted a bandit, charging toward us with his sword in hand. Oswin stepped forward and thrust a lance into his gut.

"Keep the defense up, Oswin," I told him. The orange-armored knight nodded, knocking away another bandit. As more bandits charged forward, Rebecca stepped forward, letting loose some arrows to take out a few. As they approached, Eliwood and Lowen took them out with swords. Serra was running between everyone, healing wounds when necessary.

"We're doing good, everyone!" I shouted.

"Curses," muttered one of the bandits. "They're strong!"

"They move like lightning," coughed another, who was clutching a shoulder wound from Oswin's lance. "It's... time for the new guy... to show us his skill..."

My ears perked up at this. "New guy?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I looked up to see a silhouette of someone I thought looked very, very familiar. It couldn't be...

"L-Lyn?" I whispered. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Thank goodness I was just seeing things.

It wasn't Lyn, but a boy who looked about sixteen. He had long, green hair that was braided, and somewhat covered by a headband. His clothing consisted of a blue Sacaen tunic that ended at the middle of his calves (which, by the way, looked very similar to Lyn's, and was probably the cause of my seeing things), and loose, white leggings that were tucked into his boots. And he had a really deadly looking sword in his hands.

"Why would they count on a kid to block our path?" wondered Bartre.

"I'm not sure, but you'd better stay back," I warned the axe-wielder. "He's a Sacaen, and if he can handle that sword anywhere near Lyn's level, you won't even get a chance to swing before he gets to you."

"Also, since the other bandits are relying on him, it seems he would be the most dangerous of them all," said Eliwood.

_Dangerous?_ I thought, looking at the boy. No matter how I looked at the teenager, he didn't seem to have any sort of dangerous presence. I looked at his very young-looking face, trying to see what sort of person he was. What I saw wasn't a killing intent, but rather... regret?

"Come on, new dog! Kill them!" shouted the bandit.

The young Sacaen looked toward us, took a deep breath, and readied his weapon. Eliwood unsheathed his rapier and got into a ready stance. I stepped back, not wanting to be caught in the battle. The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut.

And for a split-second, I thought that was exactly what happened.

The Sacaen charged forward, making a leap that would have put those track-and-field jocks who picked on me to shame. With a graceful twist in mid-air, he made a swing with his sword at Eliwood, which the lord managed to parry at the last second. When he landed, he began his assault, making quick successive slashes at Eliwood with his sword. Eliwood had no real choice but to be put on the defensive, blocking and dodging as many of the blows as he could.

It wasn't hard to see how this would end when a single blow made its way through.

"GAH!" gasped Eliwood, clutching his bleeding right arm. Which, by the way, happened to be his sword arm. Crap...

"Eliwood!" shouted Hector. He began to run toward his fallen friend when another group of bandits crossed the bridge and tried to block his path. He wouldn't have time to save him from the Sacaen's blade.

"Come on, ya Sacaen dog! Finish him!" shouted one of the bandits.

"I'm sorry, but, I really need to do this," I heard the boy say. "Forgive me..." He got into a ready stance, his sword at his side. I realized it right away: He was going to pull a finishing move. I looked around the area to see who could help Eliwood out of his current situation.

"Rebecca!" I shouted. "Stop the swordsman!" The girl, who was facing another direction, turned and fired an arrow, which the boy didn't notice until he had finished his stance. The young swordsman had no real choice at this point, and broke his stance to dodge the arrow. This was all that was needed for Lowen to ride in and pull Eliwood onto his horse.

"Hang on, milord!" the knight shouted, and took him out of the battle toward Serra, presumably.

"You worthless dog!" screamed the same bandit. "After them!" The poor boy nodded, and gave chase. Rebecca tried to fire some more arrows at him, but he was too fast. He eventually turned toward the archer and made his way toward her, readying his sword. I tried to make my way over to her to get her out of the way, but he was too fast. In fact, the only one of our group that could possibly match his speed at that point was...

_CLANG!_

Our resident thief definitely had excellent timing. Next thing I knew, Matthew had his daggers out, and they blocked the swordsman's blade in mid-swing. A split-second later and he would have hit Rebecca.

"You alright, Rebecca?" I asked as I made my way over to the archer. The poor girl collapsed on her knees, from what I was presuming was fright. I couldn't blame her, that was a really close call.

"Y-Yes," she sighed. I could tell that she was releasing a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

"Awesome timing, Matthew!" I shouted, but I was quick to realize that he wasn't listening. He was holding the blade between his daggers, and suddenly, the swordsman's eyes widened. Could it be that they recognized each other?

I got my answer really quickly.

"Hold on! You! I know you! Isn't your name Guy?" asked Matthew.

The swordsman's eyes widened, and he put his sword down. "It's- Is that you, Matthew?"

Again with the ridiculously good luck. Or maybe I just always had fate on my side. It was hard to tell. Whatever it was, I wouldn't find much by calculating the chances of the strongest fighter in the enemy ranks knowing one of our own in my head. Which was what my brain was doing for some weird reason.

Matthew smiled and put his daggers away. "What a pleasant surprise! How's your swordwork coming?"

"You are aware this isn't the best place to be catching up, aren't you?" said Guy. "You and I... We're on opposite sides here."

"What? Are you saying that you're going to fight me?" frowned Matthew.

"I... Well, yeah," shrugged Guy. "I'm much improved. You can't beat me."

Yeah, considering how he fought earlier, I wouldn't be too surprised.

"You're quite a terror, Guy," chuckled Matthew. "Well then..."

"You stupid Sacaen dog!" screamed the bandit. "What are you doing? Kill them!"

"Hold on!" shouted Matthew. "I think I'd prefer it if you repaid what you owe me."

"Huh?" asked Guy.

Matthew smirked. "Last time I saw you, I gave you food. If I remember correctly, you said you owed me your life."

"I only said that 'cause you said you'd feed me if I did!" Guy retorted. "I hadn't eaten in ten days, and you were cooking meat!"

"Really, Matthew?" I muttered. "That's just mean."

"You... This... This isn't fair!" shouted Guy.

"The people of Sacae never lie. Isn't that right, Guy?" said Matthew with a triumphant smirk.

"Grr... Fine! I finally find work, and now I have to throw it away!" Guy shouted exasperatedly. "This is all your fault!"

"So, you're fighting on our side now?" I asked.

"Y-You traitorous whelp!" screamed the bandit. "I'll get you for this! I-"

"Just SHUT UP!" screamed Guy, pointing his sword at his throat. "There's been _enough_ going on today _without_ you screaming nonsense at me! I quit!"

"You! You'll pay for that!" shouted the bandit, who got up and ran away. "I'll see to it that you get what's coming to you!"

"Wow, someone's pissed," I muttered.

"I apologize," said Guy.

"No need," I told him. "He was a jerk, and an enemy. I'm glad you're with us, Guy."

"I've seen you give directions to this army," said Guy. "You were able to move through the bandit forces very effectively."

"Thanks," I smiled. "My name is Sean. I'm a tactician."

"I am Guy of the Kutolah," he responded.

"Kutolah, huh?" I replied. "That sounds... familiar..."

"Sean! We must press forward!" shouted Oswin. "Marquess Santaruz is in danger!"

"Ok, I'll save the remembering for later then," I said. "Guy, welcome aboard."

With Guy on our side, we quickly ran through the remaining bandits, and made it to the castle, where Marcus, Dorcas, and Bartre were waiting. I smiled. The two-way blitzkrieg worked out perfectly.

"How did they arrive so quickly?" asked Guy. "We were blocking the only route to the castle!"

"Yep, except that we made another one," I smiled. "Dorcas and Bartre over there chopped down a couple of snags with their axes to make bridges across the river, and they and Marcus were more than enough to take out the straggling forces close to the castle. You guys were all distracted by us."

"That's... clever," muttered Guy.

"That's our tactician," smiled Matthew.

"Come! We storm the castle!" shouted Marcus. With an agreeing cheer, everyone made their way to the castle gate, where big, bald, and ugly was waiting for us.

"What's this? You've made it this far? Ah, I paid too much for that worthless pack of sellswords!" shouted the knight.

"That's Boies, the leader of this bandit group," Guy told me. "I hear that he used to be a knight for Marquess Santaruz, but was cast out because he murdered one of the other knights."

"A fallen knight," I muttered, getting flashbacks of Balan. "Alright, everyone, let's move in!"

* * *

"Come on out! We're here!" shouted Hector.

"Well, well, well! You survived, I see," growled the knight. "You'll find that I'm a bit tougher than those fools you faced before!"

"What have you done with Marquess Santaruz?" demanded Hector.

"You want to know? You'll have to best me first," laughed Boies. He then eyed Eliwood, whose wound had healed, courtesy of Serra. "You've done well to come this far, laddie!"

"Where is Marquess Santaruz?" demanded Eliwood.

"I imagine he's on his way to a better place. Gehah! Geh heh hehhh!" Did I mention that his laughter was one of the most irritating things I have ever had the displeasure of hearing?

"Wretched cur!" shouted Eliwood.

Boies took his lance and thrust it toward Eliwood, who nimbly dodged it. Hector took the chance to run in with his axe.

"Have a taste of my Wolf Beil!" shouted the Ostian lord, swinging said Wolf Beil and slicing off a piece of the knight's armor. Growling, Boies made another thrust with his lance, which Eliwood dodged again. Regaining his position, the red-haired lord took his rapier and stabbed Boies where Hector had cut his armor. Hector then made another swing at Boies, this time slicing through his chest armor, and embedding the axe in the fallen knight's body.

"You've beaten me... but you're too late to save him..." chuckled the former knight. Blood was seeping through his mouth. "Too... too bad, eh, laddie? Geha ha... geha!"

And thank goodness that was the last time I heard that incredibly irritating laugh.

We made our way into the castle, which had mostly been cleared out somehow. My guess was that, if the Black Fang or whatever assassin group had been in Santaruz Castle, they had long since cleared out when our group came very close. I looked outside and saw that it was starting to get dark. We had arrived late in the afternoon, so it made sense. We'd gone through two major battles in the course of a few hours.

"Well, the castle is emptied now," said Hector. "I think it's safe to say that the battle is won. But, Marquess Santaruz isn't on his throne."

"Where could he be?" wondered Eliwood.

I looked around, and noticed something. "Does that red carpet look like it's got a different shade of red in certain places to you?" I asked. Hector and Eliwood looked, and indeed, there were some darker red patches on the carpet, leading to the stairs where the cause of the patches was revealed.

In case you didn't get it yet, it was blood.

"Everyone! Stay here and stand guard!" I shouted to the rest of the group. "Eliwood, Hector, let's follow that trail."

The trail lead up the stairs, to the Marquess's bedchamber. That was where we found him, lying on his bed, clutching a deep wound in his stomach.

"Lord Helman!" shouted Eliwood, running over to the old marquess's body. I was almost taken aback by how frail he looked. Marquess Caelin wasn't even in this bad shape when he was being poisoned... and that was saying a lot.

"Is that you... Eliwood?" he managed to croak.

"Hold on, my lord!" said Eliwood, taking the man's hand.

Helman managed a weak smile. "I... I must apologize... Your father... He..."

"Do you know something, sir?" asked Eliwood.

"I... If I hadn't told Elbert... about... Darin's plans... This would... never... have..." Lord Helman began coughing, prompting Eliwood to stand closer. "Lord Helman!"

"... Go to Laus..." whispered the old lord. "Darin... the marquess of Laus... knows all."

"Marquess Laus?" asked Eliwood. He looked at me, and I nodded in acknowledgement. The magistrate was right, Laus did have something to do with this.

"I'm sorry, Eliwood... I... I can't..." croaked the dying marquess.

"Hold on!" pleaded Eliwood.

"Beware..." Lord Helman whispered. "Beware... the Black... Fang..."

I nearly fell over. The Black Fang _was_ here! And they had something to do with this entire mess in Laus. At those words, the lord closed his eyes, his sporadic breathing easing to a stop.

"Lord Helman!" cried Eliwood.

"He's gone..." whispered Hector.

"It can't be..." Eliwood said quietly. I saw some tears begin to flow from his eyes. "Lord Helman..."

* * *

"Will Lord Eliwood be alright?" asked Rebecca. Eliwood and Hector stayed behind to properly mourn the old lord's passing and lay him on his bed in a more comfortable position. Since I realized that my presence would just be unnecessary and the two lords who knew him best would want to grieve, I left the room and made my way back to the throne room to tell everyone else about it.

"I think so," I sighed. "Eliwood told me that Lord Helman was like a second father to him. So, yeah, this would probably affect him for some time. But, we're also on a mission to search for his own father. And now that we know the Black Fang _does_ have something to do with this, I know I'm going to be sticking with you guys as well, until all this is taken care of."

At that moment, Eliwood and Hector returned, with one of the stewards of the castle following behind them.

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Matthew.

"I believe all we can do is move forward," sighed Eliwood. "While the loss of Lord Helman is indeed tragic, we must press on."

"Wait," I stopped everyone. "I heard that Lord Helman has no heir right now. What's going to happen to Santaruz?"

"I will have a scribe write a letter to the other members of the Lycian Council," said the steward. "Until then, we will defend the castle, and I will have the temporary responsibility of Santaruz affairs until an heir is chosen."

"May Saint Elimine bless you with fortune," said Eliwood. "Come, we leave for Laus."

I was about to open my mouth to protest, seeing as it was already dark and we'd have a hard enough time moving around due to lack of rest, but I shut my mouth as soon as Hector gave me a look. I decided it would be best not to question Eliwood's judgment at this point, considering the clear emotional trauma that this must have caused.

That said, I really hoped that his dad was alright. Losing him as well would probably leave the poor guy catatonic.

* * *

By the time we got back to our campsite, everyone was clearly too tired to keep going. Not surprising, seeing as we had spent several hours fighting bandits. Everyone was pretty much silent through dinner, and went straight to sleep after eating. It wasn't the most... social period I'd ever had. And that was saying something.

"Is it like this every night?" asked Guy.

"No, we're just tired," I told him. "Anyway, hope you don't mind sleeping on the ground. I'm not sure what sort of living conditions bandits normally have."

"The group that I was with shared a single cabin in the mountains," said Guy. "And it reeked of sweat, dirt, alcohol and... well, the side-effects of alcohol. I wish I hadn't left the plains. At least then I could bathe regularly."

"You said you were from the Kutolah tribe, right?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "One of the most powerful clans in Sacae. Have you heard of them?"

"I... think so," I sat there, trying to remember where I'd heard the name. Lyn must've mentioned it to me, but when would another tribe come up in conversation...

"Hey, do you know a perpetually pissed-off nomad named Rath?" I asked Guy.

"Y-You... know Rath?" asked Guy, clearly surprised. Apparently, he did know him.

"Yeah," I replied. "He traveled with me and this group I was with last year to Caelin. You've probably heard about the trouble there at that time."

"Yes, the brother of the marquess tried to stage a coup on the castle," said Guy. "But, he was stopped by a band of mercenaries lead by the marquess's granddaughter."

"Lyn," I smiled. "Lyn of the Lorca. Man, those were good times."

"So... you were the tactician?" asked Guy. "That's amazing! So, you and Rath helped retake Caelin."

"Something like that," I replied.

"I've heard stories about Rath," said the young Sacaen. "He was the son of our village elder, the Silver Wolf Dayan, and was a prodigy. It was said that at the age of four, he could shoot an arrow from horseback, and manage to always hit the center of his target. He was essentially revered by everyone in our village, and was also rumored to be a reincarnation of Hanon herself."

"Wow..." I muttered. I remembered that (apparently amazingly talented) jerk, and how he and Lyn acted around each other. And I suddenly felt very sexually threatened.

"I left my village two years ago to become the greatest swordsman in Elibe," Guy continued. "I wanted so much to become like Rath."

"Hey now, you don't want to completely become like him," I laughed. Last thing I wanted was _two_ talented but perpetually pissed-off jerks running around Elibe. "By the way, Guy, since the bandits were employed by the Black Fang, do you know anything about them?"

"Not really," shrugged the swordsman. "The bandits don't really ask questions about the people paying them, so long as they pay up front with a lot of gold. I suppose you could call them expendable foot soldiers. I honestly was quite nervous when they wanted me to take the front lines."

"Well, no need to worry about that now," I smiled. "I try to make sure that everyone here makes it out alive and well by the time the battle's over. There's no room for sacrifices in our group. Welcome aboard, Guy of the Kutolah."

"I thank you, Sean," smiled Guy. "Well, I'm off to sleep, and I suggest you do the same."

"Agreed," I smiled, and watched Guy settle against a rock, and promptly nod off. Man, those plainspeople could sleep on _anything_.

I made my way back to my small tent and lay down, putting my head on the cushion, and let out a sigh that I had no idea I was holding. Today had confirmed it: The Black Fang _was_ involved in this mess. Lord Helman managed to say something about Eliwood's father before his dying warning about the Black Fang, which meant that my hunch was correct. Lord Elbert's disappearance would eventually lead me to a confrontation with the Black Fang. And Darius.

But why? What would they want Eliwood's dad for? Why would they bring Marquess Santaruz into this as well? And then there's Lord Darin of Laus. What was his connection in all of this? It was like all of Lycia was going to be involved in this somehow. My thoughts turned to Caelin... and the girl who was waiting for me there. I knew as well as she did that Caelin was in a weakened state, even though all of Caelin's neighbors were giving them support. If something were to happen...

I took out the locket that was hidden in my tunic. The little gold trinket seemed a little more shiny in the dim candlelight, and made me think of the day I left Caelin, and that little scene on the hill.

"Lyn... I hope you're okay," I whispered to myself.

And then, upon realizing that I was talking to an inanimate object, I quickly stuffed the locket back in my tunic and blew out the candle.

* * *

_A/N: Yes, I know it's a lot shorter than the previous chapters. I didn't really have too much to add to this one so that I could stretch it out a bit more. Anyway, I hope that this chapter, and the introduction of Guy, is to your liking. I had a hard time with adding more to this chapter without making it seem like it was just dragging on. Similar to how I don't have too much to add to this author's note. Hmm..._

_Well, until the next chapter comes out, please review! I need constructive criticism to stay motivated and keep writing!  
_


	5. Chapter 4: False Friends

_A/N: Sorry for the delayed update! It's becoming kind of hard to keep up with updates on a weekly basis, so I'll probably switch to a biweekly schedule. A lot of people seem to want the Sean/Lyn reunion to come sooner, so for that, I apologize. I hope that this much longer chapter (which I think turned out a lot better than the last one, and for that matter most of my other ones) will satisfy everyone until then._

_Also, before I forget, thank you for the reviews! They really are my motivation to keep moving forward on a story. Enjoy!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician**

Chapter 4: False Friends

After the chaos in Santaruz, we began our trek toward Laus. The full trip took around five days, with us stopping and resting along the way there. That was fine with me, I had some time to catch up with Matthew and Serra, and most of the depression had dissolved in the group by then. So, our travels were quick, and our nights were enjoyable. That, and I had spent a good five days traveling _without_ running into any bandit raids.

Okay, that was a lie. There was _one_ bandit raid that we ran into, but fortunately it wasn't targeting Eliwood this time. Rather, it was us driving bandits away from an innocent civilian. It was just three days after leaving Santaruz, when we were passing through a small Caelin village. Since we were far from the castle, and it was dark and we were just passing through, we didn't get to visit Lyn and Lord Hausen (to my dismay). While setting up camp we bumped into a merchant who was being harassed by bandits. After driving them off, one thing led to another, and, well...

"Master Sean!"

...he ended up coming with us.

"Master Sean! There's Laus Castle ahead!" said the merchant. He was a small, slightly overweight man with long blue hair pulled back with a single band, and a small moustache. He was, as far as I could tell, fairly well-to-do. He wore a long maroon robe, and had a light blue cloak draped over it.

"Yeah, I see it, Merlinus," I replied. The large castle became much clearer as we approached, looking a bit gray and dreary against the overcast sky. "Well, that's not intimidating at all."

"Are you alright, Sean?" asked Guy.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I replied. "I just hope we can get some answers about what's happening in Lycia right now. Preferably _without_ fighting another battle."

"Yes, I have heard Laus has one of the most powerful military forces in Lycia, surpassed only by Ostia," said Matthew. "Getting into a fight with them is undesirable."

"Unfortunately, that may be our only option," muttered Oswin.

Marcus nodded in agreement. "It seems that we've come at an inopportune time."

I took a glance at our current surroundings. The castle was pretty close, a little more than a mile from where we were standing. A river separated us from it, and between the river and the castle was a fairly large wooded plain. There was a village on the top of a cliff overlooking the field, and a village to the south, near the river delta that flowed to the southern sea. My guess was that the village specialized mostly in fishing.

But there was something else that Marcus and Oswin saw, and it took me a minute to realize what was there. Or rather, what wasn't there.

"Wouldn't there normally be trade carts or something between the villages?" I asked. "The village on the cliffside doesn't look like it has a good agricultural base, so you'd think that the southern village would be their main source of food, being near the sea. I mean, my guess is that they could trade textiles or something of that sort for fish. But there's no trace of any trade going on today."

"You have a good eye, Sean," smiled Marcus.

"Indeed," said Oswin. "You are correct, Sean. The area is too quiet."

"But, why is it so quiet around here?" asked Serra.

"Either there's no fish today to trade..." Matthew began.

"... or everyone's too scared to leave their villages," Dorcas finished. "This is indeed troubling."

"Everyone stay here. Eliwood and I will scout ahead," said Hector. "Sean, you will come with us."

"M-Me?" I asked.

"I do not wish to fight here, but if the time comes when we will need to take arms, I would like you to know the area well enough to plan our attack," said Eliwood. "We were not able to get help in Santaruz as planned earlier, so our small band will need to rely on your tactical knowledge to guide us through the battle."

Thanks Eliwood. We're fighting the entire Laus military with our band of twelve people. A band of twelve which, by the way, I promised would all live. Don't worry, I can deal with the pressure. It's not going to make my head explode.

Stupid odds.

"Lord Hector, I will join you as well," said Marcus. "I have sworn to protect Lord Eliwood, so wherever he goes, I go."

"Very well, Marcus," smiled Eliwood. "Everyone, stay here and be on guard. We may very well need to battle, and we will need all of your help in order to succeed."

"Yes, milord!" everyone said at the same time.

"Come Eliwood, Marcus, Sean, we will head across the river and get a better idea of the area," said Hector.

* * *

The plain was as clear as ever, and the sky grew grayer as we walked around. But, with a closer look, we could see why there was no trade going on between the villages. The trade carts were all going to the castle.

"The geography of the area blocked our view," I said. "But, why would trade carts all go to the castle? The villages need food and clothing as well, don't they?"

"Unless the marquess declares that the castle needs them more than the villages," Marcus explained. "I dare not say it in public, but Lord Darin is well known for utilizing the resources of his people to strengthen his military. And it seems now, all of their resources are going to the castle."

"For the military?" I asked. "That's ridiculous! You can't steal food and clothing from the villagers! They need that to live!"

"I will ride ahead some more and ask someone," said Marcus. "But... it is likely that Lord Darin is preparing for war." He then rode toward a nearby house.

"That is what seems to be happening," said Hector. "Look around. They truly are preparing for battle." He slammed his fist into his hand. "Bah! Marquess Laus! What is he scheming?"

"Well, that's what we're here to find out, right Eliwood?" I said, turning toward him. He was just standing there, staring at the southern village. "Eliwood?"

"Hm?" he replied, turning toward me. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sean. I was lost in my thoughts."

"You don't much look like you want to go to the castle," said Hector.

Eliwood sighed. "If we go and learn the truth, we may have to go to war."

"That's fine with me!" scoffed Hector.

"I... I've no love for war," replied Eliwood. "If I concentrate on the foe before me, I'm fine. If I picture families, innocents caught up in our foolish politics? If I imagine them... All I can do is pray for a way to solve things peacefully."

"Eliwood..." whispered Hector.

"Eli- I mean, Lord Eliwood," I began. "I know what you mean. I don't want there to be a war either."

"You, Sean?" asked Hector. "But, you're a war tactician, are you not?"

"That doesn't mean I like war," I sighed. "Believe me, I will do everything I can to make sure that you guys survive every battle, but... Eliwood's right. Families and innocents have no place in war. The last thing I want is to murder people who are just, you know, caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, that's what war is." My thoughts turned to Caelin. Specifically, they turned to General Eagler and Chloe. Because we were approaching, Lundgren had gotten desperate, Chloe was kidnapped, and we were forced to kill Eagler. That feeling of shame never really left me. And holy crap, I can be melodramatic.

"You are a good man, Sean," smiled Eliwood. "I cannot tell you how happy I am that we have you as our tactician."

"Thanks," I replied.

"Lord Eliwood!" shouted Marcus, riding back toward us. "A knight has ridden forth from the castle."

"A lone knight?" asked Eliwood.

"Yes, my lord," said Marcus. "I believe it's Marquess Laus's son, Erik. He is asking to see you."

"Erik?" asked Eliwood.

"Gah. Why did it have to be that buffoon?" grumbled Hector.

"You really don't like the guy, huh?" I asked Hector.

"He's an arrogant clod," muttered the Ostian lord. "We never got along. Though, I do find it strange that he would want to meet us."

"I will see him," said Eliwood. "Bring him here."

"I'm leaving," said Hector. "I never could abide him. I'll go for a ride and survey our surroundings."

"Right, I guess Eliwood, Marcus, and I will go meet him then," I said as Hector left. A few minutes later, said arrogant clod made his way toward us on his horse. He was well-built, had neatly combed light-brown hair, and a cleft chin. He was clad in maroon armor, and a what I would classify as somehow deceitful smirk.

Yeah, the smirk was _that _obvious.

"Hello! It's been a long time, Eliwood!" he said.

"Erik... What is your business?" asked Eliwood.

"My business?" chuckled Erik. "What do you mean? I heard my old friend was here in Laus. I merely thought I'd ride out to greet you!"

I still don't know how I managed to cough "bullshit" without being noticed.

"So tell me, friend, what brings you to Laus?" asked Erik. "Are you... on your way to Ostia?"

"Hm? Why would you think that?" asked Eliwood.

"Well, you were always such good friends with Hector," replied Erik. "He and I never... got along very well. For a noble, his behavior was crude, and his manner of speech... You would have thought him a peasant on first glance." Actually, I'd almost agree with him on that note, except for the fact that Erik was being so freaking smug about it. "You're still friends with Hector, aren't you? When did you see him last? How do you communicate?"

Yes, it was _that _obvious that he was probing for information.

"Erik... You're after something. What is it?" Eliwood demanded calmly.

"Pardon?"

"Everywhere I look, Laus prepares for battle," replied Eliwood. "What are you and your father planning? I will know the truth!"

Erik paused for a second, and his deceitful smirk gradually grew wider. Yeah, that's not creepy at all. "I'd hoped to wait until you'd told me of Ostia," he finally replied. "Of whether you've spoken with the marquess or not."

"What are you talking about?" asked Eliwood.

Erik chuckled. "Eliwood, I have always despised you. How I've longed to smash you and your pathetic morality into pieces! I've dreamed of this day, and here it is at last!"

"Wow, _someone _has issues," I muttered.

"Too bad you'll not live to see the end of it," a somewhat unexpected voice came from behind us.

"Hector!" exclaimed Eliwood.

"Y-You! Hector!" gasped Erik, backing away. "You couldn't... Have you spoken with Ostia already?"

"Maybe we have, maybe we haven't," the Ostian lord replied. "Eliwood, this mongrel has troops lying in ambush all around us. Laus regulars, every one. We're in for a rough time."

"That figures," I sighed. Time to put the tactician face on.

"There's little point in fighting," laughed the Laus prince. "You're trapped! My forces will overwhelm you, an unending torrent of soldiers! Laus's elite knight are at the ready as well. Heh heh... How long do you think you can survive?"

"Craven cur!" shouted Eliwood as Erik rode back toward the castle. He then took out a horn, and blew a loud note that reverberated across the empty plain. Suddenly, soldiers began pouring out from all around us, and a legion of knights began coming out of the castle.

"Well... shit," I muttered. "Head back across the river! We need to regroup with everyone else!"

"Right," replied Eliwood. We made a mad dash away from the mass of Laus soldiers, and all the while, my brain went into overdrive, trying to figure out a somewhat decent plan of attack since we were going to be outnumbered.

Stupid overwhelming odds.

* * *

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Rebecca.

"I-I don't know," I replied nervously. "Looks like we're about to be attacked from behind as well. They've blocked our escape route!"

"Then we stand and fight!" said Bartre.

"I'd much rather have some kind of strategy," I told him. "We're seriously outnumbered, and as skilled as you guys are I'm not sure how we can possibly fare against Laus's entire military without a plan."

"This is ridiculous!" shouted Hector. "I apologize, Sean, but we don't have time to wait for you to sit and think!"

"I know!" I shouted back. "I just... I'm sorry, I really don't know what to do now." I fell on my knees. This was _not_ going well at all. I couldn't believe how hopeless the situation was becoming. What did I spend a year waiting for? What was all that training for? I was a strategist for Lyndis's Legions with no training at all, and we were fine! But, I had never been in a situation where I felt this overwhelmed.

I suddenly heard a small chuckle come from behind me. "A world of trouble you've landed yourself in, yes?"

Hector immediately turned around, ready to draw his axe. "Who-!" He immediately saw who the voice belonged to: an old woman in a cloak. "You startled me, old woman! You should get out of here. This is going to be a bad place to stay if you plan on living."

The old woman smiled. "I want to see the one searching for his father. Marquess Pherae's son."

"H-How did you-?" I began, but Hector interrupted me.

"Listen up, old woman!" shouted the Ostian lord. "You're close to death as it is! Quit your yammering and move on!"

"Hector!" shouted Eliwood. "You should mind your manners." He turned to the woman. "I am Eliwood. May I ask your name, milady?"

The woman chuckled. "What a polite young man. I'm Hannah, a fortune-teller. I came here to help you."

"Can you tell me where my father's gone?" asked Eliwood.

"No... but... I can see other things... useful things," she replied. "I can tell you what weapons to take into battle, as well as who should wield them. Things of that nature."

"I see..." Eliwood replied thoughtfully.

"Don't tell me you believe any of this," muttered Hector.

"I have no reason to believe or disbelieve in Hannah's powers," Eliwood replied. "But I'll not rule out anything if it helps me find my father. Hannah, you are welcome to join us."

"It will be my pleasure, my lord," she smiled and bowed. She then turned to me, with a very strange look in her eyes. She examined me, up and down, and stepped back. "You..."

"Me?" I asked, pointing to myself.

"You are..." she continued.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Look out!" I heard Dorcas shout, interrupting the conversation. I turned to see three Laus soldiers with spears begin to attack Rebecca and Serra. Guy jumped forward, cutting down one of the soldiers aiming for Rebecca. Dorcas then stepped in front of Serra and took a blow to the shoulder which was meant for her, allowing Bartre to strike down the attacking soldier. The last one backed away, holding his spear in defense. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get a chance to look behind him, where Matthew was standing. With a quick blow to the head from the thief's dagger handle, he was out cold.

"Serra, heal up Dorcas!" I shouted. "Okay, looks like we're going to need to stand here and fight." I turned to Hannah. "You're a fortune teller, I'm a tactician. What can you tell me about this battle? I need some information to work with here!"

"Ho ho," she laughed. "My services are not free, young one."

I grumbled something inappropriate under my breath as I pulled out my satchel of coins. I really didn't have the time or patience to argue with her. "Here. That's about fifty gold. Now tell me, what can we expect from this battle?"

Hannah took the satchel gladly. "Many of your foe will be carrying spears. You should take axes... Yes, many axes."

"Axes up front, got it," I replied.

"Hmm... And that shrewish cleric girl, take her as well. She might well meet an old friend."

"And Serra comes too," I repeated. "Anything else?"

"The weather, though... It doesn't look very good. Be prepared for sudden changes," finished Hannah. "That's all I have."

"Good enough for me," I replied, quickly devising a strategic formation out of the information that Hannah gave me, taking a stick and drawing it on the dirt. It was amazing how clear a strategy I could make once a little more information was given. "Okay. Merlinus, Hannah, go find a safe place to hide. Everyone else, gather here!" I had everyone look at the crude dirt diagram I made. "Hector, Dorcas, Bartre, front and center! Serra, follow close behind! Guy, Lowen, protect Serra! Rebecca, help in taking out stragglers! Marcus, Oswin, protect Rebecca and Serra, and guard the sides! Eliwood, Matthew, take the rear! Keep this formation, and march forward! We're taking that castle!"

"Sean! Let me take the point," said Marcus. "There may be many of them, but numbers are meaningless! We are knights of Pherae. These mice of Laus will never defeat us!"

There was an agreeing cheer from our ragtag band of warriors, and we began our march back toward Laus castle.

* * *

"Hug close to the cliffside," I told everyone. Unfortunately, I think they were too busy to hear me. My formation idea was actually doing very well. Hector, Dorcas, and Bartre were having little trouble batting away the spear-wielding soldiers and knights with their axes. Serra was up front healing. Guy, Lowen, Marcus, and Oswin found their lives a lot easier with the axe-wielders and Rebecca thinning the forces approaching them, and Eliwood and Matthew did well with the rear flank ambushes.

Of course, some clever archer made his way around and shot an arrow at what he presumed was our weakest link: our cleric.

"Eeeee!" shrieked Serra, as the arrow hit her shoulder.

"Serra!" I shouted, running over to the cleric. "Hey, you alright there?"

"I-I think so," she muttered, taking out a vulnerary. "I'd better get my own vassals when this is over."

"Yep, you're fine," I muttered. I looked up to see the archer aiming another arrow at us... and then promptly burst into flame. Yeah, that was kind of weird.

I recognized that spell though: a typical Fire spell. I then heard Serra gasp in surprise and run away from the group toward the northern village.

"Serra! Stay in formation!" I shouted. She obviously didn't hear me. Or didn't care. Shrewish cleric girl indeed. "Alright, just stay here and play defense," I told everyone. "Keep your vulneraries handy. I'm going to get her." Everyone nodded, and stood their ground as I left the group to chase after Serra.

What could've caused her to abandon us like that? That girl was fickle, but she was always a reliable team member when the time came. Except this one time after that Fire spell...

I stopped once I put two and two together. "Oh, no freaking way..."

My conclusion was confirmed once I found Serra and another familiar face.

"Ohmygosh! It's Erk! It's been SO long!" squealed Serra. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh... Serra," groaned the purple-haired mage. "You're the _last _person I wanted to see..."

"Oh, that's so sweet! You wanted to see me again!" Serra replied in pure, air-headed, naive ignorance. I had to stifle a laugh at the face Erk made in response to her. "Hey, I know! This is perfect," Serra continued. "Come with us and lend a hand, Erk."

"I beg your pardon?" Erk replied.

"Come on!" said Serra. "I'll even introduce you to Lords Hector and Eliwood! I know you. You're probably just wandering about without work."

"No, Serra," Erk replied with a groan. "I'm afraid I am gainfully employed. However..." He paused for a second with a contemplative look. "If you're fighting Laus... this might work out after all."

"What are you babbling about? Make up your mind, will you?" grumbled Serra.

"My employer is hiding in a village south of here," he told her. "If you'll help me protect her, I'll join up with you."

"Your new employer, huh?" said Serra. "Oh, here's our tactician! Sean! Make a decision!"

"Um... hi, Erk," I said to the mage. He smiled slightly, apparently glad there was someone else here to talk to.

"Hello Sean," Erk replied. "I see that we have found each other again under less than optimal conditions."

"Well said," I smiled. "Erk, we're heading over to Laus Castle, but I'm sure we can arrange a way to get to your employer."

"I would very much appreciate it," he replied. "It would be a pleasure to work with you again."

"Likewise. Now, Serra, you've got several warriors over there that probably need your healing right now," I told our cleric. "And Erk, welcome back to the team."

* * *

"This is so much easier now that we have a mage," smiled Matthew, taking down another soldier.

"Indeed," laughed Eliwood, using his rapier to strike down a knight. "Thank you for joining us, Erk!"

"Do not forget, I need to reach the southern village," Erk replied. "My employer is down there, and I need to get her out of Laus!"

"It looks like their forces are thinning," said Marcus. "Sean, do you think we can break formation?"

"We've done enough to them," I said, turning and looking at the trail of Laus soldiers and knights that we had left behind us. I grimaced at the realization that my strategic formation was the cause of so much of the military being taken out. I also grimaced at how easily I accepted this.

"Hey, are those boats?" asked Dorcas, pointing toward the delta. I turned, and realized what he was talking about. There was a small group of boats moving toward the beach. As far as I could tell, each boat had three or four people on them. And they were all wielding axes in both hands, and had bandannas on their heads.

"I didn't think that Laus had a navy," I muttered.

"That's no navy," said Hector. "Those are pirates!"

Oh, well, I guess I'm just an idiot. Nice work there, Sean.

"Pirates? Why would pirates be heading to shore?" asked Lowen.

"I can guess," I told him. "There's a trail of wounded and/or dying Laus soldiers behind us. Laus soldiers who probably are the only protection these villages have against raids. So, seeing them occupied, they decided to seize the opportunity to loot the villages. Closest one being... the southern one..."

"You mean the one where Erk's employer is?" asked Rebecca.

"That would be the one," I replied. "Figures, doesn't it? Okay, I think we've done enough here in this formation. Let's see, we're going to need a fast team to head over to the southern village before the pirates do and protect it, while the rest keep pushing back the Laus soldiers. Erk, Matthew, Guy, Lowen, Marcus, you guys all head down with me to the village. The rest of you, keep pushing forward like you did before. Hector, Dorcas, Bartre, Oswin, I'm trusting you guys to be the front wall. Take them down as fast as you can. Eliwood, Rebecca, take out stragglers. Serra, do your healing. We'll meet up at the castle after we take care of the pirates."

"We will follow your orders," said Oswin, brandishing his lance. The five going to the village gave me an acknowledging nod, and we all headed to the south.

Marcus helped me on his horse, and we all made our way to the village. As we approached the beach, the boats all landed, and a whole bunch of pirates began advancing inland. It seemed that a fight was inevitable.

"Leave these villagers at peace!" shouted Marcus from the end of the beach. "Or we will be forced to kill you!"

"Ah, the knight thinks that he has the strength," laughed one of the pirates. "Think again! Soon your horses will no longer be able to move!"

"What does he mean by that?" asked Erk.

"I'm not sure," I answered. "Anyone else have any idea?"

"Hey, have you noticed the sky getting darker recently?" asked Guy. We all paused for a second, realization hitting every one of us. It had been overcast all day, and with the battle, none of us had noticed the sky getting darker, or the booming noise that began echoing across the plain. And a few seconds later, I felt a drop of water fall on my forehead. And that drop was followed by a downpour.

"Crap, it's raining!" I shouted. An uncomfortable whinnying noise came from Marcus and Lowen's horses as they shook their heads to shake the water off.

"Horses really dislike the rain," said Lowen, trying to calm his horse down. "I'm afraid it will be very difficult to move!"

At those words, the pirates charged forward. Marcus and Lowen had no time to dismount before getting hit with axes that knocked them off of their horses. One of the pirates began to start another swing at Marcus, when the old general unsheathed his sword and slashed at what was presumably an Achilles tendon, leaving the attacking bandit to collapse on the ground in pain. The other pirates noticed this, but Marcus and Lowen had time to get up at this point, and swords clashed with axes in the pouring rain.

It wasn't long before we realized that another pirate had avoided the two knights and made his way toward us. Matthew leapt forward as he raised his axe, and landed a hard kick into the pirate's gut. As he bent over in pain, Matthew slammed the butt of his dagger into the pirate's nose, leaving the much larger man staggering back. The thief then leapt forward, and using a spinning motion, managed to slice the sea bandit's chest several times before stabbing him in the gut.

"Get going!" the Ostian spy shouted. "Marcus, Lowen, Guy, and I can hold them back! Erk needs to reach that village!"

"Y-You heard the man," I told Erk. I turned to the four fighting the pirates. "Meet up with us at the castle!"

Everyone nodded, and continued fighting. Erk and I ran toward the southern village, where Erk's employer was staying. We ran in through the gates, looking around for her.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She must be here somewhere," said Erk. "Lady Priscilla! Where are you?"

"Erk?"

We all turned to see a very pretty girl with short red hair approach us. She looked about sixteen, and wore a green silken sleeveless top, and her arms were covered with a translucent white sash. Her white skirt ended right above her knees, and her high boots stopped right below them. Her hair was decorated with what looked like white wings placed above her ears. And did I mention she was _very pretty_?

"Lady Priscilla! Are you well?" asked Erk.

"I should be asking you that, Erk," smiled Priscilla. "Have you been wounded?"

"I'm fine," replied Erk. "Listen, my lady, I have found some friends who will help us."

Priscilla's eyes seemed to brighten at this. "Truly?"

"We'll be joining up with Marquess Pherae's son," said Erk. "Traveling with them seems to be the safest way for us to continue your search for your family."

"Erk!" she replied forcefully. Apparently this was a touchy subject.

"Oh, my apologies," said Erk. "This isn't the place to discuss such things."

"I'm sorry, but..."

"Lady Priscilla, my teacher entrusted you to my care," Erk continued. "Until you have reached your goal, I will not leave your side."

"Thank you, Erk," smiled the girl. And right as she said that, the sky started to clear up. Whether this was just another ridiculous coincidence or not was something that I really would love to find out.

"Come, Lady Priscilla," said Erk, taking her hand. "Allow me to introduce you to one of the members of our group. This is Sean, a tactician with whom I have traveled before."

"I have heard stories," said Priscilla, walking up to me and bowing her head. "It is an honor to meet the tactician who resolved the Caelin War."

"I-I... um... I didn't..." I stammered. I had one look at the girl's smiling face and I lost all manner of coherent speech. I guess, apart from Rebecca and Serra, this was the first pretty girl that had joined up with us, and so I didn't really have this problem for a while. Stupid awkward nerd moment.

Erk cleared his throat loudly, interrupting the awkward silence. "We should get going," said Erk. "Come, Priscilla. You will join us on the plain."

"Wh-What?" I shouted. "Wait Erk, we're in the middle of a battle right now. I'm not sure that this is a good place for her."

"It's fine," smiled Priscilla. "I have some skill with a healing staff. I am certain that I can be of assistance to you."

"O-Oh..." I replied. "Well, I guess that would be good then. I'm sure Serra would appreciate the help." I saw Erk cringe slightly at the mention of our outspoken cleric. "Alright, we should head back now. Pretty sure the others are going to need some help." Priscilla nodded and ran over to a nearby building, where a horse was tethered. She mounted it, and we made our way to the village gate.

After leaving the village, we saw exactly how right I was. Marcus, Lowen, Guy, and Matthew had indeed taken out all of the pirates, but not without some major injuries. It was clearly a bloody battle.

"Alright, Priscilla, let's see what you can do," I said to to the girl on horseback. She nodded, pointing her staff at the group. One by one, everyone's wounds seemed to heal completely, and soon enough, we were completely ready for battle again.

"Nice work," I told her. She just smiled brightly in response. "Okay, Priscilla's safe, and we're ready to go again. Now, let's head over to the castle! Eliwood and Hector will probably appreciate some help."

* * *

By the time we got back, the battle was mostly over, though bringing Priscilla and fully healed reinforcements was exactly what the tired and injured group needed. Serra and Priscilla together were able to heal everyone much more effectively, and with renewed strength, we pushed through the remaining forces incredibly fast, until finally, we reached a familiar face.

"U-Unbelievable!" shouted Erik. "How did you push through all of our forces?"

"Erik!" Eliwood shouted back. "Stop this nonsense. I've no wish to strike down a fellow classmate."

"You sentimental fool! You think we're still in school?" laughed Erik. "Well, let me give you an education! First, you will fall, and then Hector. Pherae and Ostia will be crushed beneath my boot! Soon, all of Lycia will be under our control!"

"You're a fool," growled Hector. "You are nothing but a power-hungry dullard!"

Erik looked at the two lords, and made what I thought was a somewhat remorseful chuckle. "You've always been... an eyesore to me. No matter how hard I tried... You two garnered all the attention... all the praise. In the classroom... on the training grounds... Everywhere and everything!"

My thoughts turned to the Academy. And Conner. I began to wonder, if I had grown up in Lycia as the son of a noble, would I have become jealous of the upperclassman? Would I have become Erik, and would Conner have been Eliwood or Hector?

"Erik. You always did care more about appearances than ability," replied Hector. "If you'd had even a hint of skill, perhaps you'd-"

"Hold your tongue!" Erik interrupted. "I will hear no more! No more!" Erik readied his lance for a fight with the two lords. "Laus is the true throne of Lycia! Taste my lance!"

Hector was the first to charge in with his Wolf Beil. Erik thrust his lance forward, grazing Hector's shoulder armor. The Ostian lord countered with his Wolf Beil, catching the armor of the Laus prince and knocking him off of his horse. He landed on the ground with a hard thud. Erik attempted to pick up his lance again, but was stopped by Hector putting his foot on the other end of the lance. He was about to get up again, but the point of Eliwood's rapier a mere inch from his throat stopped him from completing the action.

"It is over, Erik of Laus," the red-haired lord said calmly. "Surrender, or we will be forced to take this hopeless battle even further."

"Unhand me!" Erik growled. "I am no one's prisoner!" He then screamed as Eliwood pressed the tip of his rapier against the neck of the Laus prince.

"You are not in a position to give orders, Erik," said Eliwood. "Or did you forget the lesson about when you should surrender?"

Erik was about to spit at Eliwood, when Hector came up from behind and knocked the guy out with a blow to the head. And with that, the battle was officially over.

"The buffoon would never surrender," said Hector. "Bring him inside the castle. We won't be attacked so long as we have the lord with us."

Dorcas and Oswin took him by the arms and dragged the unconscious lord into Laus Castle, half expecting to be greeted by guards. But, strangely enough, there were none. In fact, much of the castle seemed to have been emptied out completely. We put Erik against a column, and had a quick look around the area. It was as if the place was completely deserted.

"This isn't right," said Marcus. "Search the castle for Lord Darin! I will watch over Erik in case he tries to escape."

We split up, and searched every room we could find, but there was nothing but empty bedrooms and old storage closets. I was stumped. There was no way that we took out the _entire_ Laus military. The battle was hard, but we had a small group, and would've had a much harder time with one of the best militaries in Lycia. So, why was the castle empty and devoid of guards?

We all met up again after searching for about half-an-hour. No one had found any sign of Lord Darin. I heard a groan coming from Erik, which told us that he was awake again. Hector was the first to take advantage of that fact.

"Come on, Erik! Get up!" shouted Hector.

"You... You peasants..." growled Erik. "You can't treat a proper noble like this!"

"It's too late for niceties! Be thankful you're still breathing!" growled the Ostian Lord. Eliwood made his way over to the beaten Laus prince.

"Erik, you must tell me," he stated calmly. "Where is your father? We've searched the entire castle, and there's no one here."

Erik's eyes widened. "D-Don't be ridiculous! My father would not abandon... No! He'd never..." He paused, with a look of realization appearing on his face. "Ephidel..."

I nearly fell over. "E-Ephidel?" I whispered. Memories of Darius and the mysterious robed mage came back to me. I remembered Balan's charred body, and the burning of the Academy hall. That man was _here_?

"Ephidel? Who's that?" asked Eliwood. Erik just growled and looked away.

"Speak, cur!" shouted Hector, grabbing Erik by the collar. "Do you want to die here?"

"Ah!" gasped Erik.

"Hector!" Eliwood shouted, trying to calm the blue-haired Ostian down. "Erik... please. You must tell us everything you know. I... I just want to know where my father is."

Erik sighed. "Ephidel... He appeared at the castle one year ago. He came... and my father changed." He looked at Hector. "Ostia's position had always bothered my father... He felt Laus deserved to rule all of Lycia. But he'd never gone so far as to speak of rebellion."

Hector backed away. "Did you say... rebellion?"

"Ephidel had something..." Erik continued. "With it, he convinced my father to set this plan in motion. My father then sent envoys to several other marquesses. Marquess Pherae, he had approved of the idea."

"What?" gasped Hector.

"Never!" shouted Eliwood. "My father would never agree to such a thing!"

"Believe or disbelieve. That is your choice," Erik replied. "First was Marquess Santaruz. Then Marquess Pherae's reply arrived. Marquess Pherae visited here six months ago to seal his approval."

"That's not... possible..." whispered Eliwood.

Erik looked at the Pheraean lord. "My father and yours argued vehemently that day. Marquess Pherae always distrusted Ephidel. He tried to convince my fathr to send Ephidel and the Black Fang assassins out of Lycia. My father would not be persuaded, and Marquess Pherae left the castle. As you know, he then disappeared. I doubt he's still alive."

"Ephidel... the Black Fang..." I repeated quietly. This was it. This was their next move. They were going to try to start a rebellion in Lycia. But why? Why was Lycia so important to them?

"No!" said Eliwood.

"Shut your mouth!" Hector shouted at Erik.

Erik made a tiny smirk. "Eliwood said he wanted to hear everything." His face then suddenly became much more remorseful. "My father... He is but Ephidel's puppet. He'll listen to anything that villain says. Even watch his own son... die..." He looked at us with an almost sadistic smile. "Those are the sort of people you're dealing with. Marquess Pherae betrayed them. They would not let him live!" he laughed.

"Ah..." Eliwood gasped. The red-haired lord turned and headed up the stairs.

"Wait! Eliwood!" Hector shouted after him. He followed the lord to wherever he went.

"Well... now what?" asked Rebecca. "We wanted answers from Laus, so, what's our next move? Do we seek out this Black Fang?"

"No," I told her. "No, we don't look for them. That would be suicide."

"Then what?" asked Guy. "Do we follow the Laus military?"

"With no sense of where they have headed?" asked Erik. "If I know my father, he will have had the entire military march away through the back door, and they have had at least two hours to run now. You will not find them."

"Then what do you suggest, Erik?" I asked.

"And why would I tell you?" growled the arrogant noble. "You are not a lord, not even worthy to speak to one of my status."

I wanted to smack him so badly, but I managed to keep my cool. "You should be pretty pissed at the Black Fang now, since they pretty much convinced your old man to leave you to die."

Erik simply grumbled something incoherent under his breath. I just about snapped.

"Listen, pal! I've had enough of your damn superiority complex!" I shouted. "The Black Fang is not a trivial matter, Erik. They convinced your father to leave you to die, which means that they convinced your father that whatever he will gain is worth the life of his son! If that whatever is rebellion, Erik, then what are you worth to him?"

Erik didn't reply at all. It was like I didn't exist in his eyes, because I wasn't "worthy to speak". Asshole.

"Like father, like son," I muttered, starting to walk away.

"Will you pursue them?"

I turned to see Erik looking at me with newfound resolution. "Even though you said it would be suicidal, will you pursue the Black Fang?"

"Yeah, eventually," I replied. "They're starting something right now, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be bigger than Laus. Probably bigger than Lycia, even. It'll be our job to stop them."

"Then, when you do find them, make sure they pay for this treachery," said Erik. "Until they make another move, you may stay here in Laus Castle. The maids are probably hiding somewhere, but they will be able to take care of you until word arrives of my father."

"Thank you, Erik," I replied. "Now, you're not exactly in good shape right now. My advice is that you head to your room and rest for a few days."

He mumbled something about a peasant giving him orders, but made his way up the stairs.

"That was very well done, Sean," smiled Marcus. "You were able to convince Erik to help us."

"It was nothing, really," I replied, smiling. "I know his type. Just needed to tap into his own sense of pride by telling him that his old man thought he was trash. Also, I almost felt bad for the guy. He never got the attention that he needed, and was always overshadowed by other people. I could almost relate to that from my own school days."

"Well, whatever happened in your past, Sean, you are a valued member of our band," said Oswin. "Now, I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's been a long day, and I'd like to rest."

"Lady Priscilla, I know you wanted to leave Laus," Erk said to Priscilla. "We can do so, if you wish."

"No," Priscilla replied. "These friends of yours are truly strong. I feel that it would be better for both of us if we remained with them."

"As you wish, milady," Erk smiled.

I was happy that they were joining us, because we needed all the help we could get. This battle was the toughest that we had faced yet. And I could only think that the fights would be progressively more difficult as we inched closer to the Black Fang's motives.

My thoughts turned to their fiery-haired strategist. The one we would inevitably face later, and the one I would need to match in order for us to win. And for a brief moment, giving up almost seemed like a plausible option.

* * *

_A/N: End Chapter! I spent a lot of time on this chapter, mostly because I spent so much time trying to incorporate everything that happened during this chapter_, _from Hannah to Erk and Priscilla to pirates to rain... Honestly, a lot happened. I also hope that my explanation for "preparing for war" using trade carts between villages was plausible, since all the chapter really showed was a big empty plain. Big empty plain hardly amounts to preparing for war, so I spent some time trying to come up with something for that._

_That said, I'm very happy with how this chapter turned out. I think it was my best in terms of translating everything that happened in a game chapter into a good story chapter. I also think this is the best chapter for showing how much Sean's tactical mind has developed since the one year time skip. He just sometimes needs a little extra help, such as from a fortune-teller, but he can formulate a good strategy very quickly given some decent circumstances. But, since he's still Sean, I figured a good awkward nerd moment was needed as well, so throwing that in was fun for me. We don't want him to become a Gary Stu now, do we? I know I sure don't.  
_

_Oh yeah, and I decided to skip the Merlinus chapter, since nothing really happens in that one and it would only delay the Sean/Lyn reunion even further. However, in the canon of this story, that chapter did occur, triggered by Marcus, Dorcas, or Bartre visiting the village when they were cutting an extra path in the previous chapter. I just kind of brushed over it in the beginning. I tend to plan things like this out ahead of time. Or make stuff up as I go along. Whichever one sounds more impressive._

_I will say that I will skip the Hector-only chapter, Talons Alight, that occurs after this one since, like the Merlinus chapter, it's not really important to the storyline, and it will allow me to write the Sean/Lyn reunion chapter sooner, which I'm sure will make everyone (including myself) happy. However, I do plan to add some of the Hector-only story chapters, since they will explain certain aspects of the story more clearly. If you've played through them, you'll know what I'm talking about._

_I will try to have the Sean/Lyn chapter written and posted in a couple of weeks. Until then, please review and add some fuel to my inspirational fire! (If you find the previous sentence corny, feel free to disregard the existence of the part of the sentence after the word "review".)  
_


	6. Chapter 5: Noble Lady of Caelin

_A/N: It's been like a month and a half already? I am so sorry, I hope that you guys didn't get too antsy... or forget about this... but at least it was less than 6 months this time, right? Yeah, I just got started at a new job so I didn't really have too much time to work on this. Add that on top of the massive writer's block I had trying to come up with ways to make this chapter good, and I have a hopefully valid excuse for why this is out so late even though I mentioned a bi-weekly schedule last chapter._

_On a side note, you guys like my new avatar?  
_

_Okay, I'll stop taking up your time with this author's note and present to you the next chapter of Trials of a Teenage Tactician!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 5: Noble Lady of Caelin

I found myself wandering the empty halls of Laus Castle five days after the battle against Erik. Pretty much everyone had recovered, and were just doing their own thing while waiting for any sign of what Darin might be doing. To be honest, I was getting a bit antsy myself.

"Sean!"

I stopped. I knew that voice. That was a voice I always heard in my dreams. The voice that had woken me up when I first arrived in Elibe.

"Lyn?" I exclaimed, turning around. I got tackled by the Sacaen swordswoman before anything else came out of my mouth, and we both toppled onto the soft futon at my feet.

"Sean, it's really you..." Lyn whispered into my ear.

"L-Lyn... What are you doing here?" I asked. "I-I guess you heard about our battle in Laus?"

"You guessed correct," she smiled, kissing my cheek. "I knew that only you could've done such an incredible feat, so I came to see you. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," I replied. I put my face against her neck, taking in her scent. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to come see you."

"I hope I didn't disappoint you," Lyn whispered, leaning closer to my face and tracing my jawline with her finger. "I've wanted this for a long time..." she whispered and began licking my ear. I felt my face grow hot and I swear, I felt steam coming out of my ears. And I think that my brain was melting.

"I... Oh god! L-Lyn... I... I can't..."

* * *

The small dog's bark managed to snap me out of my dream. Yes, that's right, it was all a dream. _Again_. Yeah, I was personally sick of it as well. It's like my stupid inner pervert would keep showing me these overtly fantastic dreams about me being with the girl that I had fallen for, all so that I would wake up and feel like shit.

"N-No, Cobb! Get out of this room!" I heard a female voice call from the door. I then realized that the small dog that woke me up was, strangely enough, licking my ear. Well, that would explain the last part of the dream. The voice belonged to one of the castle maids, and a very young one at that. She looked like she was only 16 or 17, and had shoulder-length brown hair. At the maid's call, the small... I think it was a terrier... barked again and ran out of the door. So, yeah, I wasn't in the corridor (as I was in my dream, though the futon was a strange addition), but I was in one of the bed chambers of Laus Castle. It was a dimly lit room with limited furniture, but it was still much fancier than some other places I found myself after waking up from a perverted dream.

Waking up from a dream about a hot spring with Lyn only to find myself tied up in a dungeon. That will forever be a scar in my mind.

"M-My apologies about our d-dog, s-sir," the young maid bowed.

"For what?" I asked, sitting up.

"For disturbing your... v-very pleasant dreams..." she replied quietly, and looked down at her feet. It took me a second to realize that if she knew my dream was "very pleasant", then I must've been doing something in my sleep to imply this. Kind of like right before the Roland's Day banquet, when Chloe woke me up...

Have I mentioned how much I _really, really _hate my subconscious?

"I-It's not a problem," I replied. At this point hiding my probably beet red face would be far more obvious than just sitting there.

"I came to t-tidy your room," she said. "I am sorry for disturbing you, I-I will return later..."

"No need," I replied, getting out of bed. "I'll get out of here." As my feet touched the floor, I heard a shriek come from the maid. I looked to see her blushing furiously and turning away. I then looked down and promptly grabbed a cushion to cover my... lower body. "Uh... C-C-Can you w-wait outside while I get some pants on?" I asked nervously. "I'll c-call you back when I'm dressed." It honestly took everything I had to make coherent words in the midst of my embarassment.

The maid nodded in response and scurried out the door, slamming it behind her. I got up to the nearest wall and smacked my forehead against it a few times. That was easily one of the most embarassing moments of my life. Not only did I have a really lewd dream about Lyn and unconsciously let everyone else know about it, but I managed to expose myself to a maid while conscious.

No amount of training would get rid of my haplessness.

I found my tan pants and gray tunic, and put them on as fast as possible, given the possibility of someone else coming in. I then wrapped my leather belt around the outside of my tunic, and buckled the straps of my brown boots. Finally, I took my signature green cloak from the wall and wrapped it around myself. After checking that I was halfway decent in the mirror, I tucked Lyn's small gold locket on my neck into my shirt and left to get the maid.

"You can come in now," I said, sticking my head out of the door. However, the person standing there wasn't the maid, but a familiar old woman.

"Don't mind if I do," she chuckled, walking into the room.

"Hi Hannah," I started, but she shot me a look. "Um... did I do something wrong?"

"Who are you?" she asked.

"You know who I am," I replied, confused. "Sean, the tactician? I directed the battle after giving you all of my gold?"

The fortune-teller gave me an unsatisfied glare. "I know that much, silly boy. There is something strange about you. I noticed it when we first met on the battlefield."

"Strange? Strange how?" I asked.

"It is unclear to me as well," sighed Hannah. "You see, when there is a battle, or rather, a skirmish of any kind... That is when my services are the most useful."

"Right," I replied. "You told us that you could see what weapons to take into battle and who should use them, but you couldn't tell us about Eliwood's father."

"The reason I could do this is because I can, to a degree, read a person's future. It becomes a very useful skill as a fortune teller. To do this, I normally sense changes in a person's aura connected to their state of mind. This ability allows me to ascertain what sort of weapons that they will bring, and a general guideline as to how to counter them."

"You can see into individual futures?" I asked.

"To a degree," Hannah replied. "I can also perform this successfully on an army if they are close enough. It merely takes a moment to read a single aura, and I've perfected this ability so that I can read single auras at a time, so that reading the auras of an army is not overwhelming."

"So, could you tell me who will win a battle?" I asked. "A person's future stops at death, right?"

Hannah shook her head. "Death is a special case. You can see death as a single event in a person's future, but not part of their natural flow. It is impossible for me to predict when someone will die."

"I-I see," I replied. This was quickly getting into morbid territory.

"Now, we arrive at the subject I wanted to ask you about," said Hannah. "With everyone I've read a fortune to, I was able to read their auras and follow their flow of time. However, with you, this is impossible."

"What?" I asked. "Why? How?"

"Perhaps you can answer that," said the fortune teller. "When we first met, I attempted to read your future. However, your aura is faint, and I can only read your future for the day, but no further. Because the aura is linked to your state of mind, this is troubling for a tactician. It is as if there's very little in your head."

Oddly enough, I couldn't come up with a reply to that right away. Of course, that only served to prove her point. I loathe myself...

"I'm not from Elibe," I told her after a long pause. "Think that's got anything to do with it?"

"Truly?" asked Hannah. "Yes... That may be an explanation. I have yet to read the fortune of an outsider." She smiled at me. "Forgive me for intruding, Sean. I merely wanted a word with you, and it seems you have given me a possible answer to my questions. I will now take my leave."

"Wait!" I shouted. Hannah turned to look at me again. I was too curious about this. "You can read my future for today, right? What can you see?"

Hannah closed her eyes for a few seconds, and spoke after taking a few deep breaths. "I see a new companion... Strong of heart, strong of will. You must combine your strengths and work together." She opened her eyes and looked into mine. "The next battle begins, young tactician. You must be ready."

"Y-Yeah," I replied. I was beginning to wish that I hadn't asked.

* * *

I made my way to the mess hall, where some other members of our group were already eating their breakfast of bread and fish. I took a seat between Guy and Erk and grabbed a piece of bread.

"It's good of you to join us, Sean," said Erk. "We were beginning to wonder if one of us would need to wake you up."

"One of the maid's dogs took care of that," I muttered. Erk gave me a confused look. "Never mind," I sighed. "Where's everyone else?"

"Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector finished much earlier," said Lowen, who was sitting across from us. "They are in their chambers. I would guess that they are discussing what we should do."

"Dorcas and Bartre are training, I believe," Guy continued. "I'm... not sure where Matthew went."

"That's not too surprising," I laughed.

"I don't believe the ladies have woken up yet," said Erk. "I imagine Serra's highly... loquacious... nature would have kept Lady Priscilla awake for a long time last night. It is no surprise that they are so tired."

"The maids will bring them food once they are awake though," said Lowen.

"There are quite a few maids in this castle," said Guy. "It seems that neither Lord Darin nor Lord Erik do any work by themselves."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," I replied. "And, just between us guys, none of them are to hard on the eyes."

After saying that, our table area became awkwardly quiet. Lowen and Guy simply looked away from me, attempting to hide what I think were blushing faces. My guess is that they agreed with me and were too embarrassed to say it out loud. Heck, I'm surprised _I_ was that blunt about it. Erk, however, shot me a stern, but clearly agitated look. Yeah, I definitely said something to offend him.

"Do you realize what those maids are?" he asked. "Do you know why they are here?"

"Uh... N-No..." I stammered, trying to come up with a clear answer. Erk sighed.

"These maids are all young women from nearby villages that Lord Darin found attractive," said the mage. "Using his power as the Marquess, he forced them to live with him here, in Castle Laus."

"N-No way..." I whispered. "So, that means that..."

"They are merely slaves to him," Erk finished for me. "Every one of these maids is here against her will. I do not know, nor do I wish to find out, about what Lord Darin and his son, Erik, do to these women to make them obedient, but I know that they would wish for nothing more than to return to their original lives." Erk looked at me. "Ever since she arrived, Darin has been after Lady Priscilla. This is why it was imperative that she leave this accursed territory."

Well, now my comment was just rude and inappropriate. This day was starting out really badly.

"I-I had no idea," said Guy. "He was even after her..."

"He truly does earn his reputation as a lecher," muttered Lowen.

"If that guy manages to take out Ostia, Lycia is in trouble," I sighed. "We're going to need to take him out as soon as he makes his next move."

Call it a verbal irony, but right as I said that, Oswin burst into the hall. He was sweating, as if he had run a long distance. "Lord... Darin..." he panted. "He's appeared." He put an arm on the table for support. I couldn't blame him. He seemed to have run quite a distance in all that armor he wore.

"Hey, deep breaths," I told him, putting my hands on his shoulder. "Just calm down, okay? Nothing good is going to come from rushing. We have to be level-headed if we're going to get through this battle." Hannah's words stayed with me. I had to be ready for the next battle, and that meant staying calm and thinking things through with a clear head. "Tell me, where is he?"

Oswin looked at me. "He's... in Caelin."

I fell over in shock. Caelin? He was attacking Caelin?

"We received word from a messenger just now," said Oswin. "Marcus has gone to tell Lords Eliwood and Hector. Castle Caelin has fallen to a surprise attack from Marquess Laus."

I unconsciously grabbed the locket in my shirt. "Lyn..." I whispered. I turned to everyone at the table. They were clearly worried for Caelin, but their feelings were definitely nowhere near what I was feeling at that moment. Pure, unbridled rage. "Lowen, get everyone together," I told the knight. "We leave for Caelin right now."

Lowen looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Sean, I mean no offense, but not everyone has-"

"DAMN IT, LOWEN! GET EVERYONE TOGETHER!" I shouted. "I'M THE TACTICIAN! YOU FOLLOW _ME_, GOT IT? WHEN I SAY WE LEAVE, WE LEAVE! NOW GET EVERYONE TO THE FRONT GATE! WE MARCH IN HALF-AN-HOUR! TOPS!"

"Y-Yes..." the quiet knight bowed and left for the chambers. Normally, I would've taken some of the anger back, but at this point, I was just plain impatient.

Oswin put a hand on my shoulder. "Sean, I understand that this is hard for you, but it is as you said. There is no need for-"

"LIKE HELL THERE ISN'T!" I interrupted angrily. "SCREW WHAT I SAID! I WILL _NOT_ LET DARIN TAKE CAELIN!"

_I won't let him take Lyn away..._

Yeah, I'm a hypocrite, but at the time, all I knew and cared about was that Caelin was being attacked. Lyn was in trouble. She was being attacked and possibly captured by that pervert of a marquess. And judging by his treatment of pretty young women, I could only guess what would happen if Darin got to her. And the only way to help was to get to Caelin and take him down before anything could happen. No matter how this would affect me, no matter what consequences would come up, as long as Lyn was safe from that fate, it would all be worth it.

"Sean..." Oswin started, but I abruptly left the room. I didn't want to hear anything else, I just wanted to leave and get to Caelin. Whether they understood or not was not my concern.

* * *

It took too long for everyone to gather their belongings and meet at the gate. Well, it seemed that way to me, but I was in a very impatient mood. In actuality, I think that it was exactly half an hour later. Funny how something like this would make time move slower.

Serra let out a yawn. "I can't believe this," she muttered. "We didn't even have time to get ready..."

Yeah, they just woke up.

"Well, do we march?" asked Matthew, looking at Eliwood.

"We leave right now," I answered before Eliwood could get a word in. "We don't have any time to waste! Let's get to Caelin!"

I began to head out, but I quickly realized that no one was following me. I looked at everyone, who were staring at me.

"Wh-What are you guys waiting for?" I asked. "Caelin's in danger!"

Silence. This was pissing me off.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-" I growled. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! DON'T YOU CARE!"

"Sean, please calm yourself," said Marcus. "Lowen has told us about your outburst when you heard the news, and believe me, I understand."

"Then why the hell are we waiting!" I demanded.

"Tell me, do you have some sort of plan?" asked the older knight.

"I'll think of one when we get there," I muttered. "Right now is _NOT THE TIME_!"

"I know you are anxious to help Caelin, but it is no good if you don't think things through with a clear mind," said Marcus. "We won our first battle against Laus because you kept a level head, but right now-"

"Right now, there are innocent people who will be enslaved by that... bastard of a lord!" I growled, interrupting the knight. "All I know is that he needs to be stopped. And we are the ones who can do it. We need to get there before he can do ANYTHING ELSE!"

"Sean, I beg of you, think about this," said Oswin. "Much of the Laus army is in Caelin, and we are only a few soldiers. What do you think the result will be if we blindly rush in?"

"I said I'll think of a plan when we get there," I muttered. This was so annoying. "Seriously! I did it before, remember!"

"Your plan right now is to rush in with no sense of what the enemy is doing," said Oswin. "We are, without a doubt, outnumbered. Members of our group have not eaten, and will not be at full strength. Must I remind you that these Laus soldiers have defeated the entire Caelin military? You must understand, Sean, that no matter how good you are as a strategist, if we are not at our best, we stand no chance."

"My friends are there," I replied. "From the journey last year, many of my friends stayed in Caelin. Try telling me to calm down when all this is happening!"

"Your friends would appreciate being rescued," said Hector. "How will that happen if their rescuers are led on a suicide mission? Use that head that has served us so well up until now!"

"I..." I started, but shut my mouth. Suicide mission? Is that what I was getting everyone into? I looked at the rest of the army, who were all watching the conversation with intent faces. They almost seemed scared. I realized that this was hard, but it's not like we made it through any of our battles up until now with too much trouble, right? We faced Laus before, and everyone was willing and able to make it through that just fine.

And then it hit me. They weren't scared of Laus. They were scared of _me_.

I was the tactician. I was the one that they counted on to figure out how to complete their missions with the least risk to themselves. They were counting on me to bring them home safe when everything was finally over. And here I was, being too selfish to care about their well-being when something like this happens.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, falling to my knees. "You're right, Hector. I'm sorry. I shouldn't just consider their lives." I looked at everyone. "We'll rescue everyone as quickly as possible. But, your lives are important too. I'll try not to forget that in the future."

"Appreciate it," smiled Matthew. "But, since it's Caelin we're talking about, I understand why you were angry."

"Indeed," said Erk. "Caelin truly holds a special place in your heart, doesn't it, Sean?"

"S-Special place?" I asked, confused. I then realized something. Did Matthew and Erk both know about me and Lyn? I hadn't actually told anyone, and when we had admitted our feelings no one else was there! It got me wondering who else from our original group knew.

I turned to Dorcas, who gave me a knowing smile. I sighed. Seriously, how did _everyone _I traveled with know about this!

"Erm... What are you all talking about?" asked Serra. Okay, _almost_ everyone...

"Lyndis means a lot to you, doesn't she?" said Eliwood, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Y-Yeah," I replied, quietly. "She does..." Pretty sure I was blushing like mad here.

"Very well then," smiled the Pheraean lord. "Everyone, go back inside and get ready quickly! And then, we proceed as Sean has said! We ride to Caelin's aid!" An agreeing cheer from the rest of the group signified the beginning of our march toward Caelin. Eliwood extended a hand to help me up. "Only this time, I believe we can rely on a more solid mind to guide us." I smiled and gladly took his hand, which lifted me back onto my feet. I could hear some sighs of relief as everyone went back into the castle to prepare for the upcoming battle.

I put my hand on the locket that was in my tunic. Lyn, Florina, Sain, Kent, Wil... They had all stayed behind in that castle when I left. They must've been fighting the Laus army this entire time.

"It's time I made good on some promises," I whispered to myself.

* * *

We met up at the gate after another ten minutes, which all things considered wasn't too much of a waste of time, since we were now at full strength. We made it to Caelin after two hours or so of marching. I took the time to reacquaint myself with the map of the area surrounding the castle, and where we'd probably need to start. Laus was to the northwest of Caelin, and there were a few mountains between, which marked the border. Between that and the castle, there was the large forest that belonged to the royal family.

When we got to the mountains, it became clear how Caelin was defeated.

"They were camped here this entire time. Probably for the last five days," said Eliwood, feeling a patch of dried grass. "They must have struck this morning."

"How could no one have noticed until now?" I wondered. "I mean, the mountains are right next to the castle. And why would Laus strike today? They had plenty of time to do so before."

"Ever since Lundgren attempted to stage a coup d'etat last year, Caelin has been under the protection of Pherae and Ostia," said Marcus.

"That's right," said Hector. "Caelin had lost much of their military during the struggle, so my late father and Lord Elbert had decided to spare some of their men in order to reinforce Caelin's defenses until new knights could be properly trained."

"Yes, my father had sent a few of our own knights to help get Caelin back on its feet," said Eliwood. "Unfortunately, a single year may not have been enough time for Caelin to be ready to face Laus."

"But, wouldn't the Ostian and Pheraean knights have been able to help Caelin?" asked Rebecca.

"I guess there weren't enough," I muttered. "But that still doesn't answer the question. Why would Laus wait until today?"

"They wanted to make sure that word reached the rest of Lycia," Oswin answered. "Word of us. Of Lords Hector and Eliwood."

"Why would _that_ make a difference?" I asked.

"Once word of the takeover of Laus Castle by Lords Hector and Eliwood reaches the rest of Lycia, it can be assumed that their targets would be Ostia or Pherae," said Oswin. "This means that all of the knights and soldiers who are in other parts of Lycia will rush back to their homes in order to protect them. No one realizes that Lord Darin was plotting a rebellion to begin with."

"So... with the Ostian and Pheraean soldiers gone, Caelin was essentially defenseless..." I whispered, but then a sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks. _We_ had driven Darin from his castle. _We_ had become the excuse for them to take down Caelin. And _I_ was responsible for Caelin's weakness. For the loss of General Eagler and so many others.

In other words, much of this invasion was _my_ fault. Not really the most comforting thought I've ever had, but it did drive my resolve to save them. To save my friends, Lord Hausen, and all of Caelin.

"Let's move forward," said Eliwood. "We need to see what we're fighting."

"I've spotted the enemy..." said Hector, who had made his way to the southern tip of the mountain. We joined him, to see a large number of Laus soldiers strolling about the area. I estimated at least 50 for us to try to power through. The rest, I assumed, were in the castle. It would take all we had to save Caelin from Laus.

"This is going to be a fun day," I muttered sarcastically.

"Why are their archers advancing?" asked Hector. "They're aiming at something up high."

I paused. Archers. Something high. I had a pretty good guess about what was about to happen.

"Lord Eliwood, look! Up there!" said Marcus, pointing at the sky. "A pegasus knight!"

Bingo.

"Lord Eliwood!" I heard the familiar shout of a certain lavender-haired girl, who was fast approaching us on her flying white horse.

"Could it really be..." said Eliwood. "Florina, is that you?"

"Yes!" she replied. "I'm Lady Lyndis's..."

"Florina! Fly lower!" shouted Eliwood. I looked at the archers on the ground, and they were taking aim. If Florina didn't notice them in time, then...

"Wha- Oh!" she began, when the barrage of arrows began. She was able to dodge them just in time, but wasn't able to maintain enough balance to remain stable in the air. We all watched in horror as the girl and the pegasus began tumbling out of the air toward us screaming.

"Florina!" shouted Eliwood. "We have to catch her! She could die from a fall like that!"

"I think Hector's the closest," I said, looking at our blue-haired lord, and then looking at Florina. At this point, she had fallen off her pegasus and was plummeting down toward him. Almost directly toward him. This was a coincidence I really didn't want to waste. "Hector!"

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Hector! Turn to your left and hold your arms out!" I shouted.

"But why should I-?" he said as he did what he was told, just in time to have a beautiful young pegasus knight fall perfectly into his arms. "-Oh. I see." He turned to me. "I caught her, Sean! She's alrigh-" And he was interrupted by a flying horse landing on his back and knocking him over. I heard everyone cringe at the sight. Hector was flat on his face with the pegasus on his back. Florina fell out of his arms and rolled gently on the grass toward us.

"Lord Hector!" shouted Oswin, running over to Hector and pulling him out from beneath the pegasus.

"That... hurt..." groaned Hector, standing up.

"Well, nice work," I smiled. "You made one hell of a mattress."

"... Ah..." Florina groaned. Eliwood made his way over to her.

"Can you hear me? Florina?" he asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Lord Eliwood?" she asked, blinking a few times to get her focus back. "... I..."

"Those archers almost hit you," he explained. "You avoided the arrows, but you lost your balance and fell."

"And yet..." she began, sitting up and looking at herself. "I'm not hurt. I fell from such a height. What-"

"You got lucky," said Hector, walking over to the two. "I didn't. You landed right on top of me!"

"Oh!" gasped Florina, blushing like mad.

Eliwood chuckled, pointing at our favorite Ostian lord. "Hector saved you."

"I saved no one!" he shouted. "I simply gave her a soft place to land! A bale of hay could have done more than I did."

"Eeek!" Florina shrieked. "Oh... Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm getting flashbacks of the first time we met," I muttered, remembering Migal from the Ganelon bandits. My guess was Florina was experiencing the same déjà vu. "Well, at least Hector won't try to kill us for this."

"You were lucky, Florina," said Eliwood. "If you had fallen on me, I couldn't have caught you." He looked at Hector with an amused smile. "Or your pegasus either!"

"They fell one after the other! I couldn't get out of the way!" grumbled Hector.

"M-M-My pegasus, too?" stuttered Florina. "I am so... I'm truly... I don't know what to say! I... um... I..." She was looking at her feet with a heavy blush. I felt bad for her. The girl who was so afraid of men was being confronted by a scary Ostian Lord. Still, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't amusing.

"No apology needed," sighed Hector. "You do need to tell us why you're here, however."

"Yes, of... of course!" said Florina. "Lord Eliwood, Lady Lyndis is beyond that forest. She's waiting for a chance to assault the castle."

"She's what!" Eliwood and I shouted at the same time. Florina turned to me, and her eyes widened.

"S-Sean?" she exclaimed.

"You said Lyn's okay?" I asked. "Oh thank god, she's okay..."

"... Y-Yes..." she replied. "She's with Kent, Sain, and Wil. They're all doing fine..." Any fear or doubt left in my mind about the well being of Lyn and the others was now gone. At this point, I was thinking clearly again, and was ready to take on anything that got in our way.

Of course, one look at the lavender-haired pegasus knight's small frown made me immediately remember something obvious that had slipped my mind.

"Florina," I smiled and put my hand on her shoulder. "It's been a while. I'm glad to see that you're doing fine as well." At those words, that frown was replaced by a look of surprise, and then a small smile.

Yeah, almost forgot to say 'hi'. That was dumb of me.

"Lyndis is waiting for a chance to assault the castle..." said Eliwood with a contemplative look on his face. "Still, it's good to hear she's safe."

"She's fine," said Florina. "However, Lord Hausen's been captured. He's still in the castle."

"I see," said Eliwood, turning to me. "Let's go then!"

I nodded. I was ready to get my renewed brainpower into action. "Okay, strategy time. Merlinus! You wouldn't happen to have a map of the area, would you?"

"Yes, of course," said the merchant. "I needed one when I was selling wares here." He pulled one from a sack on his horse and lay it on a nearby rock for everyone to look at. "I believe that we're here," he said, pointing the southern tip of the mountains. "And here's Castle Caelin."

"Florina, you said Lyn is beyond the forest, right?" I asked. "Where exactly is she?"

"We were near the edge, next to the shops and armories," said Florina.

"Ah, I know those locations very well," said Merlinus, pointing to a spot on the map almost due south of the castle. It seemed like it was a ways away. "I wanted to sell my wares to the merchants, and they were willing to buy."

"Okay then," I smiled. "Hector, you saw the archers advancing, right? How many were there?"

"I would say, about eight?" the Ostian lord replied.

"Then that's eight people we need to take out right away," I reasoned. "Then, Florina can fly back to Lyn and everyone and tell them that we're here to help. Fortunately, since they've been advancing, they should be pretty close by."

"Since they spotted Florina, I can also guess that they would want to come see if she's still alive," said Eliwood.

"Point taken," I said. "Florina, stay on the ground until we get rid of all of the archers, okay?"

"Y-Yes, Sean," she replied.

"However, since she's going to be on the ground, Florina's probably going to need some protection," said Eliwood.

"N-No, it's fine," said Florina. "I-I can fight. I've been training fo- Eeeek!" She was interrupted by Hector brandishing an axe in front of her.

"That tiny lance of yours isn't going to fare so well if you face one of these," said Hector. "What Eliwood says is true. Someone's going to need to stay and protect you."

"Thank you for volunteering, Hector," smiled Eliwood. "Now..."

"W-Wait! I never volunteered!" shouted Hector. I looked at Florina, and could clearly see her discomfort with the idea. Hector _was_ intimidating, I had to admit, and for someone who was afraid of men to begin with, he would be downright scary. The poor girl risked so much to come over to us when there were so many soldiers.

Still, he _did_ save her life... but I should probably not aggravate Hector's mood

"Hector, you take out the archers," I said to him. "Eliwood, I want _you_ to stay here and protect Florina. If an enemy comes swinging one of those around, you'll have the best chance to take them down." When I said 'those', I pointed to Hector's axe. I turned to Florina. "This is okay with you, right?"

She nodded. "I-I know Lord Eliwood is a good person. I can trust him."

I heard Hector mumble something about what that implies about himself.

"Understood," said Eliwood, still smiling at the little situation he put Hector into. He turned to our pegasus knight. "Don't worry, Florina. I will not allow any harm to come to you."

"I... I th-thank you... L-Lord Eliwood..." she replied meekly, with a faint blush.

"Damn it, Eliwood, how do you _do_ that?" I muttered, but I shook the question out of my head and continued with the strategy. "Guy, Lowen, Rebaecca, you guys help Hector take out the archers. Marcus, Bartre, Oswin, take out any close-combat fighters that get in the way, and Priscilla, stay with them and heal them when necessary. Once the archers are gone, all of you are to band together and head up to the castle. Matthew, Dorcas, Erk, Florina, Serra, and I will rendezvous with Lyn."

"Of course _you_ will meet with the Lady Lyndis," smiled Matthew smugly. I saw some amused faces from Dorcas and Erk whereas Serra was apparently still clueless. Go figure.

"You planned this so that everyone who traveled with you to Caelin last year will be reunited," Eliwood realized.

"I think it'll be easier for everyone that way," I replied. "Seeing some familiar faces would be good for morale. Okay, let's go take down some archers!" Right as I said that, I heard the familiar sound of approaching soldiers. The familiar sound, by the way, sounded a lot like someone saying "Hand over the pegasus knight and we're going to put these arrows between your eyes!"

To which I would reply, "Don't you mean 'or'?" It's a pretty crucial conjunction.

"Alright, leave them to us," said Hector. He charged at them before he could get his bow ready, and with one swing of his trusty Wolf Beil, was able to take out one of the archers. There was a moment of hesitation from the others after watching our burly lord take the first one down so quickly. That moment was just enough for Guy to jump in, and with the finesse of a Sacaen, struck down one more with his blade. Rebecca then came forward and started firing her arrows, and Lowen mounted his horse and charged forward with his lance. Within a couple of minutes, we had taken out every archer that had approached us.

"The battle has begun!" shouted Marcus. "We will not fall! For Pherae! For Caelin!"

"Alright, everyone, you know the plan!" I shouted. "We meet at the gates of Castle Caelin!" An agreeing cheer was the starting signal for our march forward.

* * *

The soldiers were surprisingly easy to take down on the way to the shops. I did realize that this was simply a patrol group of around 50 soldiers, they were all spread out around the plain, and so they became very easy singular targets. Still, it would take a while for everyone to reach Lyn, but so far as I could tell, we would all survive this without much problem.

"This is going well," I said, watching Matthew take down a couple of soldiers with his daggers. "If this keeps up, reaching the castle will be a piece of cake."

"S-Sean?" Florina asked quietly. "P-Please don't hold me so t-tight..."

"Oh! S-Sorry..." I loosened my grip around the pegasus knight's waist.

Oh, forgot to mention one detail. I was riding on the back of Florina's pegasus, and holding on to her so that I didn't fall off.

"I-It's fine," she replied. I saw her cheeks turn pink.

I probably should have considered Florina's fear of men _before_ saying that I would fly with her to see Lyn. I also should've considered the fact that because this was Florina, she'd say yes.

"I'm sorry for putting you into this situation," I sighed. "I guess I got so excited that you're all still safe that I wasn't thinking. You can drop me off if you want."

"N-No, it's fine," Florina replied. "I'm n-not scared of men... as much... anymore..."

I had to smile at that. "Florina, you've really become a pegasus knight now, haven't you?"

"I-I have?" she asked. "No, I'm still-"

"There's no way Lyn would've agreed with anyone to let you fly out on your own over all those soldiers," I reasoned. "Unless, of course, that someone was you."

The shy pegasus knight's blush at the statement indicated that I was right. I had to admit, imagining that incredibly shy and cute pegasus knight that was even afraid of the men who helped her insist that she fly over a whole bunch of soldiers to get to us was a difficult one to picture. But I did remember that over the months we had traveled together, she was constantly getting stronger. And after a year, she had become like this.

"Y-You've really grown as well," said Florina. "I-I guess that training at the Academy really taught you something, huh?"

"Yeah, I learned quite a bit," I replied. "I'm pretty good at reading the flow of the battle now. For example, see those guys down there duking it out with our guys? Well, at first, you think that they're just trying to take us out, right? But since we're above them, we can now see that they're forming a sort of 'wall' in order to keep us from reaching something else."

"Really?" asked Florina. "What don't they want us to reach?"

"Looks like..." I followed from where the wall was to a small clearing in the woods, and suddenly, I felt all the color from my face drain away to cower in fear. "...an archer," I gulped.

"A-An archer?" gasped Florina. "No, has he seen us?"

Her question was answered when both of us saw the archer look up and take aim at us. Yep, he completely saw us. This was _not_ going to end well.

"Florina, fly up!" I told her. "Fly up!"

Florina nodded and tugged on Huey's reins a bit. The pegasus tilted its body upwards and began flapping its wings as hard as it could. At the same time, the familiar sound of an arrow leaving its bow could be heard, and I watched in what seemed like slow motion as the deadly arrow made its way toward us. Huey was flapping as hard as he could, attempting to gain height from the approaching arrow, and all Florina and I could do was watch in terrified anticipation.

You have _no_ idea how relieved we were when we saw gravity catch up to the arrow, causing it to arc downward. So relieved, that I loosened my unintentionally tightened grip on Florina's waist. I saw Florina breathe a sigh of relief... which was good, because that meant she was still breathing. I think I held on to her pretty tightly through this whole ordeal.

Before I could apologize, though, we suddenly felt a heavy draft. This wouldn't normally be much of a problem, except for two things:

One, a heavy wind was pulling on my cloak, which was essentially acting as a sail.

Two, I had loosened my grip on the only thing actually stable in the air at this point.

As a result of these two rather simple facts, I was forcefully pulled off of Huey and began plummeting toward the ground. I could almost hear Florina calling my name, but I was more focused on the ground, which was rapidly getting closer to me. Now I knew how Florina felt right before Hector caught her. Only this time, Hector wasn't there to catch me. Maybe this was karma's way of making me pay for all that ridiculously good luck.

You know, in hindsight, I guess I could've used my cloak as a makeshift parachute or something, but when you've just been pulled off of a flying horse and are tumbling through the open air to your impending doom, ideas tend to reach your brain a lot slower. Or maybe that's just me. I don't know, maybe my brain power was completely taken by me panicking and screaming my lungs out. Hindsight is 20-20, as they say.

Well, the ground was fast approaching, and all I could do was scream and do what I could to brace for impact, and watch my life flash before my eyes.

Most of it was really boring, but the stuff from Elibe was pretty exciting. Meeting Lyn, traveling with everyone, beating Lundgren, the Academy, meeting Eliwood and Hector... almost meeting Lyn again. Her beautiful smiling face kept popping up in my head after that. Mostly during the final moments in Caelin, on that grassy hill with the sunset. Lyn...

And yes, I have a one-track mind. And at times, I hate myself for it. But maybe this time, my mind was just trying to give me comforting images in my last moments. Who knows? Even _I_ don't understand how my brain works.

_**SMACK!**_

I suddenly felt my entire front torso experience one of the most excruciatingly painful feelings that I had ever had. I had apparently landed on a large tree limb with my face plastered against the bark. I found myself draped over it like a wet towel, with my legs and arms as the ends of the towel. And the entire front of my body hurt like hell.

"This must... be why... superheroes don't wear capes... anymore..." I managed to croak in a raspy voice. It was really painful to breathe at this point, since it felt like my ribcage was digging into my lungs. Still, I suppose painful breathing is better than the alternative: not breathing.

Hooray for my somewhat ridiculously good luck. Maybe karma loves me after all...

... is what I thought right before I heard the cracking sound of the tree limb.

And following that cracking sound, I felt the branch begin to bend downward slowly. Since it hurt too much for me to actually move, I began to slide down toward the end of the bending tree limb. This, as those of you who know a little bit of physics would know, would increase the downward torque on the branch, which would cause it to bend further. This leads into a recursive cycle of bending and sliding, which would only end when the branch actually breaks off.

_**CRACK!**_

Like so. By the way, at this point, it hurt way too much to curse at gravity.

_**CRASH!**_

"Ow..." I muttered as the branch hit the ground. I was somewhat used to being in pain at this point, but still, I felt like I got hit by a truck. And then that truck ran over my body several times. For everyone's sake, I really hope that no one else ever has to endure something like this. "Well... at least I'm alive..."

The cloud of dust that had risen from the tree branch's impact on the ground was starting to clear up, and I could finally see the clearing I had landed in. And the six Laus soldiers that were in this particular clearing, all with their swords and lances pointing at me.

Karma, if I live through this, I deserve a new sports car.

"Who are you!" demanded one of the soldiers. "Are you one of the soldiers of Eliwood?"

"This kid?" laughed another one. "Look at him! He's a weakling!"

"He still managed to take out our last archer," said a third. "I think he at least deserves some punishment."

"Last... archer?" I asked, still finding it painful to talk. I then looked down, and realized that the tree branch had fallen on top of the archer that had shot at us. I think this should fill my ridiculous coincidence quota for about a month.

"He can barely move," noticed a swordsman. "This will be too easy!"

"Right," smirked the fifth soldier, lifting his lance. "Sorry, kid, but we have to kill you now."

Like I said, it hurt way too much to move, so all I could do was lie there waiting to be impaled, and I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't have to watch myself get killed. Which, when I think about it now, really doesn't make sense at all.

By this point, I hope I've made it clear that I actually did live through this, so for the sake of keeping your interest, I'll just say that I was saved at the last moment by a stray arrow that flew onto the scene and caught the soldier that was about to skewer me in the neck. And by 'stray arrow', I mean an arrow intended to catch the soldier in the neck that basically came out of nowhere.

"Guh..." was the last sound that came out of the soldier's mouth before he fell over dead.

Before the others knew what was happening, I suddenly heard the familiar sound of horse hooves approaching us fast. Sure enough, two knights rode in with their lances pointed forward, and took down one soldier each. Two knights, by the way, that looked incredibly familiar. Especially their armor, with one wearing red, the other wearing green.

"K-Kent... S-Sain..." I managed to say. "That means that... that arrow belonged to..."

"Well done, you two!" a familiar brown-haired archer made himself known.

"Wil..." I gasped. This was amazing! I was being saved by all of my old friends!

"Y-You are Caelin knights!" shouted one of the remaining soldiers. "I-If you dare oppose us, we will strike back full force!"

"Strike back?" laughed Sain. "It was you fools that decided to strike in the first place! Attacking a defenseless castle with your mighty army. The nerve!"

"You will die, Caelin scum!" shouted another soldier, drawing his sword. "We are men of Laus! Our marquess's word is our command, and he wishes the overthrow of Caelin!"

"Th-That's right!" said the first soldier. "We will prevail!"

"Have at you!" shouted the last soldier. "There are three of us, and three of you! We will show you how strong we really are!"

"That's where you're wrong," smirked Sain.

"Indeed," smiled Kent, pointing toward the sky. "There are _four_ of us." I looked up and saw a figure falling toward the clearing. A very, very familiar figure, whose blue Sacaen dress and boots, and long green ponytail that I had known and dreamt about for ages became much clearer as she landed right in the middle of the three remaining soldiers. I then saw her unsheathe her katana and, with one swift, continuous movement, managed to cut down every soldier that had surrounded her just a moment before.

"Is that the last of them?" she asked.

"Yes, very well done, milady," said Kent.

She smiled that gorgeous smile that I had seen so many times in my dreams, and turned toward me. It felt like it was in slow motion, watching her approach me, her familiar scent of grass and fresh-cut flowers. I managed to somehow move enough to sit up in that time, though it was still incredibly painful. The beautiful swordswoman then knelt down in front of me, smiling.

"Is that you, Sean?" she asked.

"H-Hey, Lyn," I replied. Damn it, this is the first time I see her in over a year, and all I can say is 'Hey, Lyn'? My thoughts were then interrupted by Lyn pulling me toward her, and feeling her arms wrap around me in a bear hug.

"Sean! Is it really you, Sean?" she asked, almost in disbelief. It was as if she was trying to make sure I wasn't a hallucination. The pain of my sore body being forced into a bear hug told me that I was either real or the most unnecessarily realistic hallucination ever.

"Y-Yeah..." I tried to reply through the pain. "It's really me... Lyn..."

"It's so good to see you!" exclaimed Lyn. "Have you been well?"

"I've been better," I replied. "How about you?"

"I've been very well," she replied. "Very well..."

I really wish I could've lifted my arms at this point and return the hug. Stupid pain.

"It seems that every time we meet, you have to be saved somehow," she laughed, still holding me. "I'm so happy that you are alright, Sean. I was so worried..." She buried her face into my neck, which would have been very enjoyable if I hadn't been in excruciating pain.

"Lyn... You can l-let go now..." I whispered. At that, she immediately released me, and having lost a sudden support, I fell over on my already sore back, which hurt. Still, I think I was able to speak clearly now that all of the panicking was over. Lyn then backed away a little, and allowed the others to come near.

"Well met, Sean," smiled Kent, extending a hand out for me. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise," I replied, trying to take his hand. Kent quickly realized that it was hard for me to lift my left arm, so he grabbed it for me.

"Well! This really is a pleasant surprise!" smiled Sain, taking my other arm and helping Kent pull me up. "So, you are the one leading the forces of justice against these Laus villains!"

"I guess you could say that," I chuckled. I then felt my legs wobble a bit, but fortunately, Wil ran over and slung my arm over his shoulder to help keep me steady.

"Hello, Sean!" he smiled. "Has it really been a year?"

"Yes, yes it has," I replied. "Thanks for catching me, by the way. And nice shot back there, that guy almost killed me!"

"I've spent quite a bit of time practicing my archery," he laughed. "I needed to prepare to be your teacher, after all."

I laughed a little. "You still remember that promise?"

"Wouldn't forget it," he smiled.

Lyn looked behind me. "What's wrong, Florina? You needn't hide back there."

I turned, and saw the familiar pegasus knight hiding behind a tree. "Um..." she began, stepping out to make herself known. "S-Sean... I'm sorry about... I-I wanted to apologize for... um..."

"Florina, it wasn't your fault," I replied. "You don't need to apologize. Besides, you're the one who called everyone here to help me, weren't you?" A very slight nod answered my question.

"Hah, that's the Sean that I remember!" chuckled Sain. "Still as clever as ever!"

"Everyone who remained in Caelin speaks of you fondly," said Lyn, looking at everyone else, who were nodding their heads in agreement. "We're always saying 'I wonder where Sean is...'" She then looked at me. "Yet, you are right here."

"Milady, the castle," said Kent. "We should continue."

"Yes," said Lyn, now in a more serious tone. "This isn't the best time to catch up. We're here to rescue my grandfather. Sean, will you help me again?"

"Did any one of you think I would say no?" I replied. With that, Kent helped me onto his horse, and we began our march toward Castle Caelin.

* * *

It wasn't long before we were able to meet up with the rest of our original group. Serra used a mending staff which she had recently gotten from Merlinus to completely heal my aching body, and I was at last able to move on my own again. With much of the original Lyndis's Legion, which had saved Caelin just a year before from being overthrown, beating a few patrol groups was cakewalk.

"You know, I'm impressed, Sean," said Sain, knocking away an attacking soldier. "You fell from such a terrible height, and survived. That's more than I think our tactician from last year could do."

"I was caught by a tree," I replied. "Very painful, but it was enough to ensure that I didn't die."

"And for that, we are glad," said Kent. "We're almost out of the forest! The castle is near!"

"Awesome!" I exclaimed. "Alright, guys, let's take back Caelin!"

"For Caelin!" everyone shouted at the same time, and began charging out of the forest onto the earthen path. We then stopped after seeing the rest of the Laus forces outside the castle. All thirty or so soldiers, who all turned in our direction after hearing the unified battle cry.

"Crap, should've realized that there would be more when we got close," I muttered.

"There she is! The heir to the Caelin throne!" shouted one of the soldiers, pointing at Lyn. "Kill her!"

"Lyn, stay back!" I shouted.

"I thank you, Sean, but in case you didn't remember, I can take care of myself," Lyn smiled, and unsheathed her familiar katana: the magic sword of Sacae, the Mani Katti. "Everyone! Lend me your strength! We will reach my grandfather and save Caelin!"

At those words, both sides began charging at each other. Kent and Sain were in the lead, using their lances to take out several of the Laus soldiers. Dorcas followed, beating back several lance-wielding knights with his large axe. Wil and Erk did their job at a distance, helping to take care of some of the stragglers. Serra did her job with her healing ability, and Florina and Lyn fought side-by-side against some of the mercenaries.

Unfortunately, even with that, the Laus military was a difficult opponent for our small group. Their defensive formation, while we were breaking through it, was still enough to slow down our forces. This allowed for some of their reinforcements from inside the castle to help them.

"We're still outnumbered," growled Sain. "I hope our own reinforcements arrive soon!"

"They should be here any minute," I told him. "Until they get here, we need to keep fighting!" It was at that moment that I realized in all of the direction giving, I had managed to find myself separated from the rest of the group. And I also realized that I wasn't the first one to realize this.

"You don't have any weapons on you, do you?" chuckled the swordsman as he approached me from behind. He was followed by two other soldiers, and they all had really scary looking grins on their faces. "Boys, I think I've found their weakest link."

"Crap..." I muttered, stepping back. "Eliwood, Hector, I hope you guys show up soon..."

"Time for you to die, boy!" shouted the swordsman. I moved to the side to dodge the swing, and then quickly stepped back to avoid the lance that the second soldier was thrusting in my direction. With everyone else busy for at least the next few seconds, all I could do was count on my own reflexes to keep these three occupied until the rest of our team made it here. The third soldier, another swordsman, started coming at me with his large broadsword. Keeping on my toes, I avoided the swings of both swordsman by taking large leaps away from them. This proved to be a bad idea when the soldier with the lance decided to trip me mid-leap, causing me to fall flat on my face.

"Die!" shouted the first swordsman. As he approached, I suddenly heard the familiar flapping of a pegasus's wings. I looked up and saw that Florina had come to help me. The pegasus knight dove toward the swordsman and jabbed her lance into his gut. The momentum of the dive drove the swordsman into the ground. There was no way he could have survived that.

"Kill her!" shouted the soldier who tripped me. The larger swordsman nodded and began charging at Florina. I then noticed that the lance-wielder had stepped on my cloak while I was on the ground, so with a strong tug, I managed to make the soldier fall over. I quickly got up and, before he could get up, I kicked the soldier's face as hard as I could. That was enough to knock him out. And hurt my foot...

I looked toward Florina, and saw that she was on the ground and trying to pull her lance out of the first swordsman, which had be embedded in the ground. She didn't realize the larger one was charging at her. "Florina! Move!" I shouted. She looked up and saw the big buy with the big sword about to cleave her in two. With her weapon stuck in the ground, all she could do was move so that the sword wouldn't hit her. Unfortunately, there wasn't any time for that. "FLORINA!"

Just then, a hand-axe suddenly came onto the scene, flew right past Florina, and embedded itself into the swordsman's stomach.

"Now, now, I know you are a Laus brute, but that's still no way to treat a lady," laughed a familiar voice that I had recognized all too well.

"Hector!" I exclaimed. "You guys made it!"

"It appears that we have arrived just in time," said Eliwood, coming up from behind him. "Come, let us take that castle back!"

As he said that, Guy and Bartre came onto the scene with their weapons fully ready, and charged into the skirmish. Rebecca then appeared, and began firing her arrows at the soldiers. She was followed by Priscilla, and finally, Marcus, Oswin, and Lowen, who all immediately joined the battle to take the Castle. Lyn and company seemed to welcome the reinforcements that were helping them drive the Laus soldiers back. Hector's mad swinging with his Wolf Beil was an especially good form of crowd control, though everyone else had to make sure they weren't in the middle of it.

"What are you doing!" shouted one of the knights. He was a green-armored brown-haired man with a small moustache, and he looked about the same age as Oswin.

"C-Commander Bauker! They're very strong!" said one of the soldiers, before being cut down by Lyn's Mani Katti.

"We are men of Laus!" shouted Bauker. "Our lord's will is our bidding! We will win this battle no matter what!"

"Commander Bauker?" asked Eliwood. "I can't believe it. He's commander of the Laus Imperial Army, and is well-known for being as gentle as he is skilled. And Lord Darin is forcing him to attack Caelin?"

"That snake Darin, ordering good men to do his dirty work," muttered Hector. "Bauker! Let us through! We don't need to fight!"

"Lord Hector of Ostia," he chuckled. "Do you really think that I will oblige when you have already killed so many of my men? My loyalty is with my lord, and he will rule Caelin when this day is done! I will serve him until the day I die!"

"Individuality doesn't seem to be your thing, does it?" I muttered.

"Let my grandfather go!" shouted Lyn. "Or we will force our way in!"

"So, you are the granddaughter of Lord Hausen," chuckled Bauker. "Your resemblance to your late mother is truly remarkable, I must say, and to combine it with the striking beauty of a Sacaen woman..."

"Save your flattery," growled Lyn. "I have fought alongside my friends to take this castle before, and I will do it again!"

"Then have at you, Lady Lyndis!" shouted Bauker, brandishing his lance. "Prepare to fall before your master!"

At those words, Lyn quickly approached Bauker, cutting down any enemies that dared to stand in front of her. Bauker readied his lance and thrust it forward. Lyn quickly moved to the side and, using her natural grace, performed her favorite sword-drawing technique, cutting across some of the knight's armor. Bauker wasted no time and swung his lance, knocking Lyn over. As he approached her, Eliwood jumped in with his rapier, and stabbed the cut that Lyn had made in Bauker's armor.

"Curses!" shouted the commander.

"You heard Lyndis," said Eliwood. "She fought for this castle alongside her friends. We're all here to fight together."

Bauker sneered and rammed Eliwood with his shoulder, knocking the red-haired lord back. "You will die here!"

"I won't let that happen." I turned to see Lyn back up, Mani Katti in hand. She lunged forward, attempting a downward slash at the knight. He blocked with his lance, and forced her back. He then tried to stab her in the shoulder, but a quick shifting of weight allowed her to dodge. Lyn then jumped forward, attempting to stab the side of his armor. Bauker, despite wearing all that armor, was surprisingly quick, and was able to deflect the sword with his gauntlet. He then threw a hard punch at Lyn, which connected with the side of her face and sent her flying. She hit the ground with a 'thud', and the Mani Katti flew a few feet away from her arm.

"LYN!" I shouted, running over to her. I knelt down next to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Lyn! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine," she muttered, wiping the blood from her lip and getting up. "Really, Sean, I'm fine."

"Who are you, boy?" asked Bauker. "I see no weapon on you, nor any sort of magic tome. Why do you stand between me and the girl?"

"I'm a tactician!" I replied. "One year ago, I helped Lyn take this castle back from Lundgren!"

"Caelin's young tactician," chuckled Bauker. "Of course, I've heard the stories. Unfortunately, you stand between me and her, so please move aside."

"Never," I growled, holding my arms out. "I'm not letting you near her."

"Foolish boy," growled the knight. "Die with your beloved princess!"

As he said that, I heard a yell from my left. I turned to see Hector charging in with his Wolf Beil. When he got near, he made a heavy swing of his axe at Bauker, which I had to duck. I looked to see a couple of my hairs had been sliced by the Wolf Beil.

"Gah!" Bauker screamed as the axe blade dug into his stomach. Lyn took the chance and got up. She moved in front of me and stabbed into the chest armor that she had cut at the beginning, piercing what I think was his lung. "We've been... defeated? Such... a shame..." he coughed, before his eyes rolled back into its sockets and he fell over, dead.

"C-Commander Bauker!" cried one of the soldiers. "They've killed Commander Bauker!"

"This is no good! Retreat into the castle!" shouted another one. "We will regroup and fight with all of our forces that are still there!"

The rest of the soldiers made their way inside, and attempted to close the portcullis to block our way into the castle. Fortunately, Kent and Sain managed to ride into the castle and took out the men that were closing our way in, and managed to lift the portcullis enough to that we were all able to get inside. We found ourselves in the large courtyard in front of the main building, and the Laus forces were all retreating into the castle.

"I'd say that does it for the battle outside," I said. "Is everyone okay?"

"Some cuts and bruises, but I think we'll all live," said Oswin.

"That was quite a battle," said Marcus. "But we're all still alive. And the remaining Laus soldiers have all gathered inside."

"Alright, guys, it's time we storm the castle," I told everyone. "Our priority is to get Lord Hausen out of there."

"The Laus soldiers are exhausted and will not attack us for now, especially since they've lost Commander Bauker," Marcus noted. "This will be our best chance to strike!"

"Commander Bauker... He was a fierce enemy," sighed Eliwood. "Lyndis, once we've defeated the remaining foe, the castle's yours."

Lyn smiled. "Thank you, Eliwood. If not for your help, I don't know where I'd be right now."

"All of this happened because we routed Lord Darin at Laus," Eliwood replied. "It's only right that we help."

"Sean explained your motives to me, Eliwood," said Lyn. "This is about your father. I would do the same thing in your position. What happened in Caelin is not your fault."

"Thank you. However, until your castle is yours again, I take responsibility," the red-haired lord replied.

"I understand. Thank you," replied Lyn.

"Eliwood! We're moving into the castle!" shouted Hector. "Come on!"

"All right," Eliwood replied.

"Who's that?" asked Lyn.

"Oh, yes. Let me introduce you," said Eliwood, calling his friend. "Hector!"

"What?" the Ostian lord replied, making his way to them.

"This is Lyndis," Eliwood told him. "She's Lord Hausen's granddaughter. Lyndis, this is Hector. He's Lord Uther's brother."

"His brother? Really?" asked Lyn.

"Yes," nodded Hector.

"I was watching the way he fights..." said Lyn. "He's not like you, Eliwood. He's somewhat like my own knights, but different still. He relies so much on power. It's like he's never been-"

"I haven't," Hector interrupted. "I taught myself how to fight."

"I've no issue with that, but the way you swing that axe around..." Lyn continued. "You're a threat to your allies! You should be more watchful."

If I remember correctly, I unconsciously began feeling my sliced off hair at this point.

"What did you say?" Hector demanded angrily.

"Lyndis? What's come over you?" asked Eliwood.

"Hm? Oh... I... My apologies," she sighed. "I didn't intend to seem so critical. It's just..." She turned to me as she said this, and then looked back at the two lords. "Never mind."

Eliwood chuckled. "Granted, Hector's style may be a tad dangerous, but... There's no one I depend on more. You may think him careless, but he's always aware of his surroundings."

Hector scoffed. "The more you praise me, the less worthy I sound."

"Lyndis, once you fight alongside Hector, I'm sure you'll understand," laughed Eliwood.

"I'm sure you're right," sighed Lyn. She turned toward Hector and made a slight bow. "I apologize, Hector. I'm honored to have your help."

"No apology necessary," replied Hector. "I'm glad I can lend a hand."

Eliwood nodded. "Let's go inside, shall we?"

"Yes. We must save my grandfather," said Lyn. The two male lords then left to gather the rest of our forces to take the castle back from Darin, leaving me and Lyn alone. Together.

I felt my face heat up as that thought reached my mind.

"How are you feeling, Sean?" Lyn asked me. "Are you well? You look a bit red."

"I-I'm fine... really," I replied. And now, it was probably going to get redder.

"Hector swung his axe very close to your face," she said. "That would be enough to frighten several years off of anyone. Are you sure you're well?"

"Yeah, b-believe me, I'm fine..." I replied. I turned to look at her, and at that moment realized exactly how close she was standing to me.

"Sean... It's been too long," she whispered, taking my hand into hers. "I'm... truly happy to see you again."

"Yeah, same here," I replied. "I've wanted to come back for so long, but-"

"Sean! Get over here!" shouted Hector, interrupting the moment. "We need you!"

"This probably isn't the best time to have this conversation," said Lyn.

"Y-Yeah..." I replied. Well, she was right, but if I said I wasn't disappointed, I'd be lying. "Okay... um... let's go save your grandfather. Just like old times."

"Just like old times," smiled Lyn. Still holding my hand, she began running to the castle doors, where the rest of our group was waiting. The battle outside was just the beginning. We were going to finish it inside.

And I silently prayed that we could continue our conversation at the end of the day.

* * *

_A/N: End chapter! Longest... chapter... EVER!_

_I really hope that this chapter didn't seem like it was dragging its feet, since I ran through so many ideas while writing it. In the end, I didn't want to cut out anything, and the result is this beast of a fanfiction chapter. I also hope that, even if it seemed to drag along, it was still enjoyable to read. I added another scene with Hannah, which, if you read the previous chapter carefully, I almost touched on before. I don't want to give spoilers, but this aspect of Sean's otherworldly-ness will probably come up again. And maybe... just maybe... it will become important to the story..._

_I also added something that I wanted to touch on in the previous chapter, but didn't. Lord Darin, in the game, was obsessed with Priscilla and wanted to marry her, and, according to some villagers in the game, had a reputation as a lecher, and took pretty girls from the villages to live with him. I did not make that up, that is actually in the game canon, and so I thought that would be a great way to flesh out the character here in the story, even though we haven't actually met the guy yet. Isn't that weird? I bring him up all the time, but he himself hasn't actually appeared yet._

_Finally, I wanted to address something that was odd in the game. Eliwood's army stayed in Laus Castle for 5 days, according to the game dialogue, before they got the message that Caelin was attacked. Then, they headed over right away. Based on the fact that Lyn and everyone were still outside, I would guess that they were attacked earlier that day. Eliwood and Hector arrive minutes later. This got me wondering, exactly how far is Caelin Castle from Laus Castle? It wouldn't make sense if it was a 5-day march, because that would mean that Eliwood's group would've taken a lot longer to reach them. Plus, that would mean the messenger who told everyone of the Laus attack in the first place took a few days to reach them. If that was the case, then the castle would've been taken almost half a month before Eliwood arrived. I hope that my explanation of why Laus took so long was plausible enough. This allowed me to make it so that Laus Castle and Caelin Castle were actually only a couple hours apart by foot. Translating game logic to a story is always fun.  
_

_To those of you who wanted a straight up romantic reunion between Sean and Lyn... sorry to disappoint. Unfortunately, this big hurdle known as "Oh yeah, her grandfather's still in trouble" kept getting in the way of me writing any sort of romantic scene like the end of the first story... so I added in an awkward dream at the beginning instead. Does anyone think I do that too much?_

_Reviews would be greatly appreciated!  
_


	7. Chapter 6: Whereabouts Unknown

_A/N: You know, I think every time it takes over a month for me to update, my chapters end up being really, really long to make up for it. Of course, that means it takes even longer to write it, so I have to postpone it further. Nasty cycle. But, as long as my readers get full enjoyment, I suppose it's worth it._

_Onto the next chapter, and the conclusion of the battle to take back Caelin!  
_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 6: Whereabouts Unknown

Castle Caelin was a beautiful work of architecture. Built on top of a cliffside overlooking the forest and the mountains, the massive structure towers over those who approach it from any direction. Yet, it still had a welcome elegance about it that separated it from something like Laus Castle. Its spires were clearly constructed to be sturdy, but they were built almost symmetrically from each other, with the main castle building serving as an anchor to create a balanced shape that was pleasing to the eye. There was no sense of a prison or a stone fortress when one gazes upon Castle Caelin, but more of a very large mansion that one could easily call 'home'.

"Done!" said Matthew, pushing the door open. He smiled at us and triumphantly twirled his trusty lockpick around his index finger.

Basically, we were breaking and entering this 'home' of ours.

"I see your thieving skills have not rusted, Matthew," said Kent.

"Indeed," smiled Lyn. "I suppose I should consider it fortunate that you were actually one of Ostia's spies, else we may not have met here."

Matthew chuckled. "I know you, Lady Lyndis. You would have found your own way in."

"We must be cautious," said Eliwood. "There are still quite a few Laus soldiers in the castle."

"Where are the Caelin guards?" asked Hector.

"I think about half of them were killed in the surprise attack," Lyn replied sadly. "The survivors must be here somewhere..."

"They might be locked away as prisoners..." said Eliwood. "We'd better rescue them quickly. If Marquess Laus decides to hold them hostage, it will make seizing the throne much more difficult."

"Lundgren thought the same way," I muttered. "Bastard even had a holding cell dedicated to keeping hostages."

"That's right," said Kent. "You and Lady Chloe were trapped in there together, weren't you?"

I nodded in response. "We're going to need to put the safety of the remaining guards as a priority now. But, to effectively do this, we're going to need to split up into two groups. One small group for rescuing the guards, and the rest for distracting the remaining Laus soldiers."

"Makes sense," said Marcus.

"Matthew's lockpick should come in handy for the locked up prisoners," Oswin said thoughtfully.

"That's my job," smiled the Ostian spy.

"Sain and I will join as well," said Kent.

"Indeed," smiled the green-armored knight. "The remaining soldiers will require the aid of their commanders."

"Commanders, huh?" I smiled. "I take it you two got promoted after the Lundgren fiasco."

"Kent was named Knight Commander of Caelin after you left," Lyn explained. "And Sain was named Sub-Commander."

"Wow! That's awesome!" I exclaimed. "Right, so that's Matthew, Kent, and Sain..."

"And me," Lyn continued. "As much as I want my blade through the man sitting on my grandfather's throne, making sure that the imprisoned guards are alright is a more pressing matter."

"Okay," I smiled at her. "Team Rescue Prisoners will consist of Matthew, Kent, Sain, and Lyn..."

"Actually, Sean, if you don't mind... could you come as well?" asked Lyn. "I... We could use your support."

"Wh-What?" I asked. I heard a snicker coming from Matthew's direction, and I'm sure the amused faces of everyone in our group would have been a real joy to look at, but I was focused more on the girl that had just asked me to join her. "L-Lyn..."

"The captured soldiers may benefit more from a tactician than another fighter," smiled Kent. "Your presence may very well be the deciding factor in whether they can fight their way out of the prison."

"Impeccable reasoning," chuckled Sain.

"Please Sean," said Lyn, putting her hand on my shoulder. "We need you."

I sighed. I could never turn down a pretty face, especially Lyn's. That's how I ended up in Elibe in the first place.

"Alright," I sighed. "We head inside and fight together until we reach the prisons. Then, I'll go with Matthew, Kent, Sain, and Lyn to rescue the guards, while the rest of you keep pushing forward." I looked at our brown-haired archer. "Wil, I'm leaving you in charge of guiding everyone to the throne. After we have our reinforcements, we will join up again and finish the battle."

"I'll do my best," said Wil. "But, what about Florina? She's just as capable as I am for leading everyone to the throne."

"This entire battle is going to be inside these walls," I told him. I turned to Florina. "I don't think Huey is up for being in the front lines when his flight path is restricted, correct?"

"Y-Yes," Florina replied. "Huey won't be able to dodge very well when there are walls in the way."

"Exactly," I smiled. "Alright, we'll do another strategic formation in order to make our way through the castle. Marcus, Lowen, Sain, and Kent will take the lead, followed by Wil and Erk. Oswin, Hector, Dorcas, and Bartre will follow Wil and Erk, protecting their sides. Serra and Priscilla will follow. Heal when necessary. Then, Rebecca needs to be taking out stragglers, and we need Eliwood and Guy protecting them. Matthew, Lyn, and Florina will take the rear, and make sure we don't get ambushed."

"It's settled!" shouted Hector. "Let's find the guards and retake the castle!"

Lyn closed her eyes. "Hold on, Grandfather. We'll be there shortly," she whispered.

Eliwood turned to the rest of the group, and unsheathed his rapier. "Seize the throne!" he shouted. "It's time to reclaim the castle!"

* * *

Most of the already exhausted Laus soldiers weren't very hard for us to make it through. Sain, Kent, Lowen and Marcus took the lead, taking out many soldiers without much trouble. Wil focused on taking out their mages with his arrows, and heavily armored knights fell to Erk's Fire spells. Suffice to say, our front wall was pretty much enough to get through everyone until...

"So... It was _you _who defeated Bauker!" shouted one of the soldiers. He was very heavily armored, reminding me of Lundgren. He had red hair and sideburns, and a very large red moustache rested above his upper lip. His face in general had a very powerful look to it, with well-defined cheeks and a large cleft chin. He stood about two heads taller than me, and I swear, the ground shook every time he took a step.

"He's... intimidating..." I muttered.

"You must be the leader," said Eliwood. "Where is Lord Hausen?"

"He had better not be harmed!" shouted Lyn.

"You had best worry about yourselves," chuckled the armored man. "Your ragtag bunch are no match for our army!"

"We've fought our way through your troops!" growled Hector. "Caelin will have its rightful ruler back when this day is done!"

He smiled at that. "We'll see, Lord Hector. We shall see."

Hector growled and immediately rushed forward, Wolf Beil in hand, at the armored knight. As soon as he got past Sain and Kent, an orb of dark energy flew past the knight and slammed into his torso. Hector didn't have a chance to react as he was blown back, leaving a sizeable dent in the wall.

"Hector!" shouted Eliwood. "Are you alright?"

"I... I will be fine," coughed the Ostian lord, clutching his stomach. "That was... rather painful..."

"They have shamans!" shouted Marcus. "Everyone, tread carefully!"

"Shamans," I muttered. "Haven't seen them in a while. If only Lucius was here..."

"I will let our forces take care of you," smirked the armored man. "We have roughly half our soldiers between here and the throne, and with the Black Fang's shamans, I doubt you will find taking the throne as easy as entering the castle." He turned to some of the soldiers standing behind him. "Leave none alive."

"Yes, General Bernard!" each of the soldiers shouted unanimously. With that, the armored man made his way back to where he came from, which was presumably the throne room. Again with the leader moving to the back while all of his troops come and stand between us. I find that this is a noticeable pattern with all of our enemies, and one with no reasonable explanation in my mind.

"General Bernard..." said Marcus. "So, _he _is the Knight Commander of Laus. Lord Darin's right-hand man."

"That means Darin's in the castle, right?" I asked. "And since the Black Fang is here... Ephidel must be as well..." Just thinking of the robed sage made me picture Balan's burnt corpse again. I shivered at the thought.

"General Marcus, can you take the lead?" asked Kent. "The prisons are down this corridor. We will proceed with the original plan and free the captive guards."

"A good idea," said Marcus. "We will march forward and cover you. Reinforcements will be very welcome indeed."

"Alright," I said. "The best way to get rid those shamans is to not let them finish their spells. Attacking them quickly is a priority. Good luck."

"And to you as well," said Wil. "Alright, everyone, the throne room is this way!"

At those words, everyone charged forward except for me, Lyn, Kent, Sain, and Matthew. As soon as we saw that the enemies were busy fighting the rest of our group, we slipped into the corridor leading to the prisons.

"Alright," I whispered. "Looks like we're good to-"

"Wait, Sean," Eliwood said as he grabbed my arm before I could leave. "Before you go, I have a request."

"O-Okay," I replied. "Make it quick, we need to do this before they realize we're missing."

"Alright, Sean," he whispered. "The captured Caelin soldiers are most likely exhausted. I'd like to protect them and keep them from having to fight."

"Wh-What?" I asked. "The entire point of this was so we would have some reinforcements!"

"I realize that makes it difficult for you to play a strategy," he sighed. "But... I will do my best to take up their share of the fighting. Please, Sean. We cannot let Caelin lose more than it already has."

I sighed. I really couldn't argue with that. In just a little over a year, Caelin had lost so much due to Lundgren and Darin. Whatever precious few knights that were left were all going to be needed to protect Caelin from now on. And with the Black Fang backing Darin's plans...

"Okay," I whispered. "I'll try to keep the prisoners out of harm's way."

"Thank you," smiled Eliwood. "We will meet you shortly. Good luck!"

We're facing both Laus _and_ the Black Fang with pretty much no help at all. Yeah, good luck is pretty much what we're going to need at this point.

* * *

"Okay, I think that was all of the Laus guards," said Sain as he pulled a javelin out of the dead soldier. I stepped over the several Laus soldiers who lay in the ground either dead or groaning in pain from our surprise attack. Needless to say, it worked very well, though I still wasn't really comfortable with leaving a bunch of dead and/or dying bodies lying in a corridor of Lyn's home. Still, my discomfort had to be put behind the fact that the captured Caelin guards were still in there somewhere.

"We can't be too sure," said Kent. "There may be more further into the prisons."

"I'm tying up the soldiers who aren't dead yet," said Matthew as he proceeded to wrap a long rope around the groaning Laus knights. "I'll make sure they don't have any weapons so that they won't be any more trouble for us."

"As much as I hate showing mercy to those who attacked us in our defenseless state, I suppose I should be glad that at least some families will not lose loved ones due to their corrupt lord's bidding," said Lyn. "There have been enough casualties in Darin's mindless plot to take Caelin."

"Do not let your guard down yet, milady," said Kent. "There will be more casualties in this skirmish. This is not something that can be avoided."

"I realize that," sighed Lyn. "That is the cruel nature of war. But, if we can save some innocent souls from the trauma of having their family killed in such an event, it will be much easier on my own conscience."

It's times like these where I realize that I will never wonder exactly why I fell in love with her.

"Ah, your words are truly a blessing," smiled Sain. "In another time, milady, you may have been called a saint."

"I am no saint," Lyn replied. "I'm afraid too many lives have fallen to my blade to allow me such an honor. I can only hope to live happily in a peaceful world that my sword has helped to create."

"Well said, milady," said Kent. "Now, we should go free the Caelin guards from their cells and take out any more Laus soldiers along the way." He turned to me. "Sean, you will stay here and wait for us."

"Wh-What?" I asked. "Why?"

"As I said before, having a tactician would be more useful than having another fighter," replied the red knight. "With your direction, we can effectively guide the rest of the Caelin soldiers to safety, and possibly provide reinforcement to Lord Eliwood. Therefore, I think it may be best if you remain here, out of harm's way."

"But what abou-"

"I can assure you that there are no Laus soldiers waiting in ambush," said Matthew, interrupting me. "Believe me, I know when there are signs of an ambush. Even if there was, they would've attacked us while we were still busy fighting these soldiers, or while Lady Lyndis was talking about lessening the number of casualties. They wouldn't have waited until now." As he finished that sentence, he made a quick tug on the knot he was working on to secure the Laus soldiers.

"I guess I can't argue with that logic," I replied. "Okay, I'll wait for you guys here. Tell any of the Caelin soldiers that you free to meet me here. After you guys get back, we'll head over to help out Eliwood together."

Kent nodded. "Okay. Lady Lyndis, Sain, Matthew. Let us go free the captured guards." At that, he headed further into the prison.

"I'm ready," smiled Matthew, twirling his lockpick around his index finger and ran after Kent. "I'll see you soon, tactician!"

"We will return shortly, Sean," said Sain, following Matthew and Kent. Once again, Lyn and I were left alone. Together. And once again, my face turned red at the thought of it.

"Sean, are you sure about this?" asked Lyn, taking my hand into hers. "I can stay with you, if you'd like..."

"I'll be okay," I told her. "We've pretty much cleared out the castle up to this point anyway, so unless Eliwood and everyone have been beaten already, there's no chance of any Laus soldier or Black Fang assassin will get in here while you open a few prison doors. Plus, you'll only be gone a few minutes. I'll be fine. Really, Lyn, you don't need to worry about me anymore."

She smiled slightly. "I always worry about you, Sean. That will never change. But for now, I suppose I will trust you to be by yourself for a few minutes."

"Sounds like a fair deal to me," I replied. She let go of my hand and ran after everyone else, leaving me by my lonesome. I leaned on the opposite wall from the tied up soldiers, who had long since stopped struggling and were likely passed out from exhaustion and pain.

"Just a few minutes," I whispered to myself. I closed my eyes for a bit, letting my thoughts take me on a ride for a while. I remembered this corridor very well. My cell was close to the end of it. I remembered Lundgren's cold grasp around my throat, and Balan's relentless beating on me. And here I was, sitting across from a bunch of soldiers that I planned an attack on. I wondered what level that put me on compared to Lundgren and Balan.

And then there was the attack from Laus. I made that possible. Because of me, Caelin was left defenseless. Because of my strategies, Darin was forced from his castle. The combination of the two allowed Darin to run his freaking army through Caelin, putting Lyn and everyone in danger.

"Are you with Ostia?"

The masculine voice interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see a tall, rather well-built young man who looked about my age. He had red hair and red (pretty scary-looking) eyes. He wore a blue jacket over a brown turtleneck and white leggings that ended at his leather boots. He also had a shoulder guard strapped on, and what looked like a broadsword hanging on his belt.

"I will ask you again. Are you with Ostia?"

"Are you with Laus?" I replied. "You're not exactly dressed like a Laus soldier."

"I'm not," he replied. "I was a prisoner in one of the cells here."

I figured that Matthew freed him and he was the first to make it back to me. "Well, if that's the case, yes, I'm with Lord Hector."

"I see," said the swordsman. "It is unfortunate, but if you are with Marquess Ostia's younger brother, then you must die."

I paused for a moment, taking in what he had just told me. I chuckled a little. "You really had me going there for a second, pal. We're here to free you and take Caelin back from Laus. We're here to help you. You probably know that and just said that I have to die as a joke, right?"

He pushed the sword out of its scabbard with his thumb.

"R-Right?" I continued.

He grabbed the sword handle and unsheathed the blade.

"Okay, not right..."

He began a swing, which I dodged by quickly ducking and rolling out of the way. As I stood up, I saw that the guy was only a few feet away from me. He swung his blade in a downward diagnal arc, which I avoided by stepping backward.

"Why are you attacking me?" I demanded. "I... I don't know what you're attacking me for!"

"You work for House Ostia," growled the swordsman. "I have something of a score to settle with them. The exact story behind it is not something I wish to share with someone who falls for their propoganda."

"I don't work for Ostia!" I replied angrily.

"Lies!" he shouted, swinging his broadsword again, this time vertically. "Why would an Ostian Lord allow you to travel with him if you weren't working for him?"

"I think you- WHOA!" I shouted as the blade missed my chest by about half an inch. "-may have a skewed viewpoint of Hector, pal."

"I think that you are unaware of Ostia's crimes," said the swordsman. "He, by extension in blood, bears a part of the responsibility of all crime from the Ostian council. And for siding with him, I'm afraid you are now a part of this."

"Hold on, buddy! I don't even know what I'm a part of here," I replied. "Maybe if you could... you know, tell me what you're so mad about? We can talk things out, and you don't have to resort to violence." Great, I sound like a sensitivity trainer.

"It's ironic," the red-haired swordsman chuckled. "You preach about peaceful negotiations, and yet your lord has no such intentions. No, their problems are solved by force, such as their destruction of House Cornwell."

"House Cornwell?" I asked. Cornwell... Cornwell... Why did that sound so familiar? I must've heard about them during my few months wandering by myself. But what...?

"You need not know more," said the swordsman. "For the fall of House Cornwell, you will die."

"I... I'm sorry for whatever happened to Cornwell," I told him. "But you can't just kill me for... knowing Hector! Seriously, go talk to _him_ about that!"

"When I see him, I will drive this blade through his armor," muttered the swordsman.

"Okay... don't talk to him..." I muttered. Why do guys like this have such a one-track mind?

He began another swing. I backed up, hitting something and hearing a rattling noise. I quickly turned my head and saw that I had bumped into a weapons rack. Taking the chance, I pulled out the closest thing I could find: a small shield. At the very least, I could defend myself now. As the swordsman began his swing, I held the shield up to block it.

_**CLANG!**_

The force of his sword swing knocked me back into a wall, and left an incredibly deep dent in the shield. Next thing I knew, the dent became a crack, and the shield promptly broke in half.

"Well... that was useful..." I muttered. I looked up to see the tip of a broadsword at my face.

"It's time for you to die, Ostian scum..." he growled.

Okay, seriously, how many times do I have to almost die in a day? Come on, karma, I need something here...

"S-Sean?"

I looked up to see who the voice belonged to, and found myself looking at a certain red-haired beauty who a certain perverted lord was infatuated with. She stared at the scene with frightened eyes. "L-Lord Eliwood sent me... He thought that you may need a healer..."

"Priscilla, get out of here!" I shouted. "This guy here wants to kill Hector and anyone who sides with Ostia!"

Priscilla backed away slightly, seemingly intimidated by the swordsman who had a blade at my throat. My... throat? Wasn't it just pointing to my face? I looked to see that he was staring at Priscilla, and his blade was lowering.

"You..." he whispered.

"Hm?" asked Priscilla.

"Can it be?" he asked. I was pretty stunned. Did he know her?

"I..."

"You don't... recognize me," he whispred. He stepped back and chuckled. "That's not surprising. You were so young when we were separated."

Priscilla's eyes widened. "What? Are you... Raymond? My brother, Raymond?"

The swordsman smiled and sheathed his sword. "You've grown, Priscilla..."

Priscilla dropped her staff and ran over to the swordsman. "Brother! My brother!" she cried as she hugged the guy who just about took my head off.

"What are you doing here?" asked Raymond. "It's been ten years since Count Caerleon of Etruria took you in as his foster daughter..."

"That's right," she sniffed, wiping a tear from her face. "My adopted father has treated me with much kindness. But I am of House Cornwell by birth. I still remember Father and Mother. I've never forgotten them. Or you, Raymond."

The phrases "ridiculous coincidence" and "Deus Ex Machina" come to mind right now. Ah well, I can't really complain since I'm still alive.

"Priscilla," whispered Raymond.

"When I heard that House Cornwell was lost... I... I was so worried about you," said Priscilla. And right there, I remembered why Cornwell sounded so familiar: I learned a bit about them at the Academy.

Cornwell was one of the territories of the Lycian League, with its own marquess and position in the Lycian Council. However, fairly recently, evidence was presented to the Lycian Council which suggested corruption within the ruling body of House Cornwell. The evidence was so bad that the Lycian Council decided to dissolve Cornwell's territory, dividing it evenly among the nearby territories of Caelin, Laus, Tuscana, and Khathelet. There was something of a struggle, but the text didn't make it very clear. My guess was that Marquess Cornwell refused to give up his power, and so the League decided to take it by force. Ostia must've lead the charge against House Cornwell and left, well... only two survivors, both of whom were standing in front of me. This would explain Raymond's grudge, and why Priscilla left Etruria in the first place.

"So that's why you left Etruria?" asked Raymond. "You've come quite a way."

"Dear friends of mine in Etruria helped me," Priscilla replied. "They provided a young mage to be my escort. Then we passed through Laus... The marquess learned of my lineage and refused to let me leave. I would be there still if not for Lord Eliwood and his companions."

"His... companions?"

"Lord Hector, Lady Lyndis, and our tactician, Sean... They're all such kind people," she told him. Thank you, Priscilla, you've probably saved my sorry hide with that statement right there. "I'm so glad I came to Lycia. And now I've found you..."

"You've become friends with... him?" asked Raymond, obviously surprised.

"Raymond?" asked Priscilla.

The swordsman paused for a little bit, looking fairly contemplative. No surprise there, just a few seconds ago he was about to kill me for simply traveling with our favorite blue-haired lord. Now he realizes his long lost sister is with that same lord. Well, at worst, he'll probably let both of us live. And at best...

"I see," he said, finally. "Then I will join you."

Bingo.

Priscilla's face brightened immediately. "Dear Brother! Will you truly come with us?"

Raymond smiled. "I could not refuse my little sister. And besides-" He then stopped himself.

"What is it?" asked Priscilla.

"It's nothing," he sighed. "You're better off not knowing." He put his hand on Priscilla's shoulder. "Tell me, your lineage... Do Eliwood and his friends know of your heredity?"

Priscilla shook her head. "No, we've never spoken of it."

"I see... That is best," he said quietly.

"Brother?"

"Priscilla, we must keep our relationship secret. Okay?" asked Raymond. My guess was that I would have to forget this entire conversation ever happened or else I'd have my head broken like that shield on the ground.

"All right... If you say we must..." whispered Priscilla.

"Another thing, my name is Raven now," he told her. "Raymond is... a name I've discarded." Yeah, I had to admit, it did sound a lot cooler.

"Brother... You have your reasons, don't you?" Priscilla sighed. "I understand. As long as we can travel together, I'm happy." She smiled. "If we continue on, we'll be able to see Father and Mother, too!"

Raven's eyes widened. "Priscilla... That's..."

"Anyway!" I interrupted. My guess was the last word in that sentence was "impossible", considering Marquess Cornwell and his wife were likely killed in the struggle to dissolve Cornwell. My guess was that Raven didn't want to break it to his little sister that her search was futile. "Raven, I think we sort of got off on the wrong foot..."

"I suppose you're right," he sighed. "I should apologize. I still don't know your name." That's not all you should apologize for, pal.

"Lord Brother, this is Sean," said Priscilla. "He is the tactician that I mentioned."

"A tactician?" he asked. "I see. This is why you didn't fight back and simply ran from my blade."

Yeah, nice way of putting it, pal. Glad we found a real charmer of a brother to join us.

"Do not be fooled, Lord Brother," said Priscilla. "Sean not as physically able as some of our group, but he is among the cleverest people I've ever met. Under his lead, our small band was able to face the entire Laus army without so much as a single casualty. Lord Eliwood trusts him without hesitation."

Raven scoffed. "I'm not sure how clever he could be if he decided to stay by himself, unarmed, in the middle of a battle."

Yeah... that was a bad move on my part. I probably could've asked Lyn to stay there with me. Hell, if Eliwood had decided to send Serra over instead of Priscilla, I'd probably be dead. Still, he didn't have to be so blunt about it. I've had enough of that going on with a certain nomad last year.

"Well, not everything I do is _perfect_..." I muttered.

"Sean! Come over here!" I heard Lyn shout. I immediately got up and ran down the corridor, with Raven and Priscilla following me. After passing all of the prison cell doors as I made my way to where that voice came from. When I got there, I saw Lyn and everyone else in front of an open prison cell... with a bunch of bodies huddled together on the ground.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," said Kent. "Lucius was in the cell, so he didn't see what happened."

"Yeah, that would explain... Lucius?" I looked up to see the familiar effeminate monk smiling at me. "Lucius! No way!"

The monk smiled at me. "Good to see you again, Sean. Our reunion is surely the work of blessed Elimine."

"Y-Yeah," I replied. "Wow, this is weird, I was just thinking earlier that we could use you in this fight."

"Lucius." I turned to see that our scary red-head mercenary had addressed our pretty-boy monk.

"Lord Raven!" exclaimed Lucius. "I'm so pleased to see you well!"

"You... know each other?" I asked. I looked at Priscilla, who shrugged.

"I have known Raven since we were very young," Lucius told me. "I see, you have joined Sean and Lady Lyndis?"

"For the time being," said Raven. "Sean has convinced me to side with Caelin."

"That's the magnificent charm of our tactician," smiled Sain. "He can always convince someone to join us in our fight for justice!"

I didn't want to say that I really had nothing to do with this at this point, considering the real table turner was Priscilla, and the fact that Raven wanted his relationship with her to be kept secret. "Anyway, what's with these bodies?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"We just found them like this," said Matthew.

"I see..." I muttered. After a few seconds of silence, I looked up at everyone. "I'm going to need a favor."

* * *

By the time we reached Eliwood and the others, they had taken care of most of the remaining Laus soldiers, and the large number of dead shaman bodies told me that they had little trouble dealing with the additional Black Fang forces. "We really _could_ take care of their share of the fighting," I muttered.

"Marcus? MARCUS!"

My ears perked up at Eliwood's words. "Marcus?" I asked.

"That doesn't sound good," said Lyn. "Eliwood? Where are you?"

"Lyndis, is that you?" We looked in the corner to see Eliwood kneeling down next to our fallen paladin, with the rest of our group huddled up next to him.

"Sir Marcus, what happened?" asked Sain.

"Bernard..." he muttered, clutching a bleeding shoulder wound. "It is... no wonder he is Knight Commander..."

"We were inside the throne room," said Hector. "Almost all of the Laus forces have been taken care of, but a shaman caught us off-guard and knocked Marcus into a wall."

"At which point, Bernard took the chance to leave a deep wound with his axe," Oswin finished. "We were able to make a few dents in his armor, but when his last batch of reinforcements arrived, we had to retreat." I looked up and noticed the door to the throne room was barricaded on our side with a lance across the door handles to keep the rest of them from getting to us.

"We're all exhausted," said Rebecca. "I'm nearly out of arrows."

"And I don't have much power left in my healing staff," Serra added.

"Okay, we'll stay here to recuperate," I told everyone. "We're almost finished, guys. We just need to take care of old Scarybeard in there and Caelin is ours again."

"Where are the imprisoned guards?" asked Eliwood.

"Yeah... about them," I began. "They're-"

_**BANG!**_

Suddenly, I heard a lot of shouting coming from the other side of the door, and a lot of pounding against it. The lance that was placed across the door handles was noticably being bent as the doors were being forced open.

"Okay, recuperation time is over," I muttered. "Priscilla, Serra, do what you can to heal everyone. Lyn, Kent, Sain, and Raven, you all take the lead. You're the least exhausted of all of us."

"Alright," said Lyn, unsheathing the Mani Katti.

"Lucius, Erk, Wil, back them up with your ranged attacks," I told them. "The rest of you, gather around behind them and take care of anyone that gets past the front line. We cannot let them near Marcus, got it?"

"Yes," everyone replied in unison.

"This is it, everyone," I said quietly, as the pounding from inside the throne room grew louder. "Any second now," I muttered. The pounding continued, and I saw the lance that was holding the door begin to crack. "Alright, guys. This is the home stretch," I told everyone. "Their last batch of reinforcements."

"Everyone, I have a request," said Lyn. "Bernard is most likely sitting on my grandfather's throne. I wish to fight him myself."

"Lyndis?" asked Eliwood.

"Caelin has already suffered at the hands of one ruthless tyrant," said Lyn. "Mother Earth help me if I allow my grandfather's kingdom to fall at the hands of another one. It will be my blade that takes my grandfather's rightful place back from these invaders."

"You're sure you want to go through with this?" I asked Lyn.

She nodded in response. "Sean, you do understand what I intend to do, don't you?"

"Of course," I replied. "Okay, everyone, new plan. When we get in there, our priority is to clear a path for Lyn. To fight Bernard, she's going to need as much open space as possible. Try to force the remaining soldiers to walls, and leave the central area open."

"Okay, we'll follow your orders, Sean," said Oswin.

_**CRACK!**_

"And here we go!" I shouted as the doors were forced open, revealing the final mass of Laus soldiers that were crammed into that room.

"For Caelin!" shouted Kent and Sain at the same time as they charged into the mass of Laus soldiers, immediately knocking several back. As more approached, our newest swordsman leapt into the fray, swinging his broadsword and taking down several soldiers at once. As more began to approach the three, they were stopped by several orbs of light that surrounded them and converged on them. The light orbs exploded and knocked the soldiers back.

"I'm happy that my command of the Lightning spell has not deteriorated over the past year," said Lucius.

"Yeah, nice work," I told him. "Okay, time to widen that opening!" Led by Kent, Sain, and Raven, the rest of our group joined in the fight. Hector, Bartre, and Dorcas used their axes to take care of the armored units. The magical attacks of Lucius and Erk were able to at least keep some of the attacking soldiers busy so that Wil and Rebecca could fire their arrows while the soldiers were distracted. Eliwood, Matthew, and Guy had very few problems with the final batch, and Florina, Lowen, and Oswin did their parts with their lances. Serra and Priscilla were healing everyone on our side as they were fighting.

It wasn't long before Lyn had her path to the throne, which she ran through as soon as it was open. I took the chance to follow her, avoiding stray magic and swords to finally get to Bernard, who was sitting on Caelin's throne.

"Bernard!" shouted Lyn. "I've come to take my grandfather's throne back!"

"You've made it," said the red-haired general. "I must say that to face an entire army with only a few mercenaries is truly a spectacular accomplishment. A testament to your strength, I suppose."

"It is not only strength," said Lyn. "We happen to have a brilliant tactician, and the skills to carry out his strategies." And here comes the tomato face.

"I see," said Bernard, getting up and picking up his large axe. "And, my guess is that you tried to free your captive guards, am I right?"

"Yes, we saw their bodies," Lyn replied, narrowing her eyes. "Your soldiers executed them!"

"What?" gasped Eliwood. "You... monster! How could you? They surrendered!"

"I see, so that was Ephidel's order," Bernard said quietly.

"I will never forgive you or your lord!" shouted Lyn, readying her Mani Katti. "Your brutality ends here, Bernard!"

"Then come at me!" shouted the general. "I am Bernard, Knight Commander of Laus! I would test the might of those who bested Bauker!"

Lyn charged at the armored general, slashing at his chest armor and making a cut where there was originally a dent. Bernard counted by side-stepping, and swinging his large axe at the still moving Lyn. She was too fast for him, though, and managed to roll out of the way of the axe blade. The general smirked and threw the powerful weapon at Lyn while she was taking the split second to get up. Realizing that the blade was coming at her at high speed, she moved to the side. Unfortunately, she moved just slightly too late, and the blade made a cut in her shoulder as the axe embedded itself in the wall. I noticed that it was connected to his armor by a chain.

"G... Gah..." Lyn muttered as she held her bleeding wound.

"Lyn!" I shouted. "Crap... this isn't going as planned."

"Had enough, girl?" asked Bernard.

Lyn responded by getting up and readying her sword again. "My grip on my sword hasn't loosened," she growled.

Bernard smirked and tugged on the chain that his axe was attached to, freeing it from the wall and pulling it toward himself. Lyn took the chance and grabbed the axe with her free hand, letting the momentum of the retracting weapon pull her quickly over to the knight. He had no time to react as Lyn became too close for him to hit. She managed to roll under his legs and, with one quick movement, make a cut on the back of his armor.

"You... are strong," he growled. "But..." He turned around very quickly and swung his axe at Lyn. Her only reaction was to block it with her sword, but the massive weapon combined with the speed that it was coming at her was enough to throw her relatively small body against the ground. I heard her cry in pain as she landed on the stone floor. "... you're ten years too early to face someone of my level."

"Lyn!" I shouted, running over to her. I knelt down next to her. "Lyn..."

"We... we were in a similar position... last year, weren't we, Sean?" she managed to groan. "When... you saved me from Lundgren..."

"It's not over," I told her. "But, do you really think you can do this?"

"I'm not alone," she told me. I smiled a little at that.

"Boy, if you wish to live, I suggest you move away," I heard Bernard growl. "Unless you are willing to die for her."

"Bit early to say that," I replied. "This fight isn't over, Bernard!"

"You are the young tactician, are you not?" laughed the general. "It seems that you are not as wise as the stories present you. Look at her, she can hardly move! This fight is over. You've lost." He stepped toward us, ready to cleave Lyn in two.

"D-Don't come any closer," I warned. "If you take another step, I'll make sure you regret it."

"Is that so?" chuckled Bernard. He then took another step toward us, and was within axe's reach of Lyn's body. "And how do you plan to do that, boy?"

"For starters," I smirked, pointing to the ceiling. "Look up."

With a puzzled expression, Bernard looked up to see what I was pointing at: an iron chandelier. Which, by the way, was rapidly approaching him.

_**CRASH!**_

"Gah!" Bernard cried as the heavy iron ornament knocked him forward. Lyn took the chance and held her Mani Katti toward the cut in his chest armor, and let his falling heavy body impale itself on her blade. "Gah..." he muttered as he rolled over on his back with the Mani Katti sticking out from his armor.

"I tried to warn you," I told Bernard.

"That... was quite the plan..." smiled Lyn.

"I wasn't sure it was going to work for a second there," I replied. "But, you played your part beautifully." I looked up at the balcony, at several men in armor who were cheering. "And we also have our Caelin guards to thank for this."

"G-Guards?" asked Bernard.

"The bodies we found in the prison weren't the Caelin soldiers," I told him. "They were your own prison guards. Apparently, one of the Caelin soldiers had snuck weapons and armor into their cells and ambushed your guards. They were knocked out when we got there. Luckily, we found them before they got into any serious fight."

"You... You tricked me..." whispered the red haired general.

"Yeah, well," I smiled. "Being a tactician isn't all about knowing how to overpower your enemy, you know. Sometimes, you need to figure out how to win when you have a severe disadvantage."

"You... truly are brilliant..." chuckled Bernard, and then coughing up some blood. "This is a just reward... for Laus's brutality..." And at those words, his head fell against the stone floor, his eyes closed, and his breathing eased to a halt. And he had died with a small smile, as if he wished for Laus to be stopped here.

"Good-bye, Bernard," Lyn said quietly. "Sean... could you help me stand... ?"

"Oh... s-sure," I replied, slinging her arm over my shoulder and helping her up. I'm pretty sure I lost all manner of coherent thought as the Lyn's head rested against my shoulder, but fortunately, I didn't have to think anymore. Lyn then got into as much of a standing position as she could, and looked at the remaining soldiers, who had stopped fighting at the sight of their general being defeated.

"Soldiers of Laus!" she shouted. "Your general is dead, and this fight is over! Surrender, and let us end this meaningless bloodshed now!"

"G-General..." one of the soldiers cried as he fell to his knees. "I can't..."

"You heard Lady Lyndis!" shouted Eliwood. "Drop your weapons, and we will show you mercy!"

One by one, each of the Laus soldiers dropped the weapons that they were holding, and the sound of metal hitting the stone floor echoed across the entire throne room, and the soldiers were forced on their knees.

"Master Sean!" I turned to see the many escaped Caelin guards come down from the balcony. One of them made his way over to me, "Master Sean, what would you have us do with them?"

"Tie them up for now," I told him. "Confiscate their weapons, but no killing, and no torture. Just let them cool down, and then I'll tell you how we'll deal with them."

"Yes sir!" the guard replied. "You heard him! Restrain all of them!" The other guards replied in unison, and went over to take the Laus soldiers to the prisons.

"No killing and no torture," chuckled Bartre. "Sean, you may be a war tactician, but you sure are soft."

"He hasn't changed," smiled Lyn. "And for that, I am grateful."

I probably blushed seven shades of red right there, which I know because of the number of snickers that came from the other members of our group. "Um... Serra or Priscilla? I think Lyn needs some of that healing magic."

"Of course," smiled Priscilla. She pointed the orb of her staff directly at Lyn, and a soft light began to glow. After a few seconds, Lyn's bleeding stopped, and she was able to stand up on her own again.

"Well, onto more serious matters," said Eliwood. "Such as Lord Hausen."

"Grandfather..." whispered Lyn. She ran toward the back of the throne room, where the hallway leading to the rest of the castle was. "Grandfather!" she called. "Grandfather! Where..."

"Lord Hausen?" shouted Eliwood, running after her. "Where are you?"

Hector walked over to the throne. "Eliwood!" he shouted, calling both of the other lords back. "Eliwood. Here, on the throne... It's blood."

"No..." I whispered. "Lord Hausen..."

"Blood?" asked Lyn, tears beginning to come to her eyes. "No! It can't be!"

"Lyndis! Calm down," said Eliwood. "He might only be injured. Come, let us find him."

Lyn took a deep breath. "Yes, you're right. I must be calm."

"Right," I told her. "Nothing good will come from being frantic about anything."

Lyn nodded in agreement. Suddenly, she did a double take and pointed to a shadowy figure in the corner. "There! Over there! There's someone..."

"Who's there?" demanded Eliwood. "Show yourself!"

The shadowy figure chuckled slightly, and stepped into the light to make itself known. It was someone that I recognized right away.

"Leila!" Hector, Matthew, and I shouted at the same time. We then paused and looked at each other with puzzled expressions on our faces.

The attractive pink-haired thief chuckled. "Yes, it's me, Lord Hector. It's been a long time."

"You know her?" asked Eliwood.

"Yes, her name's Leila," replied the Ostian lord. "She... works for Ostia..." He paused, as if trying to find better words to describe her. "All right, she's a spy."

"That's... surprising..." I muttered. "Last I checked, she was with the Black Fang..."

"Yes, that I can explain later, Tactician Sean," she smiled. "I was watching the battle, and I must say that I was very impressed. It seems that you have grown a great deal since I rescued you from that prison."

"So, she was the reason you were able to escape from Lundgren?" asked Lyn.

"Yeah," I replied. "And then she just kind of... disappeared."

"I'm fairly good at that," smiled Leila. "Lord Eliwood of Pherae and Lady Lyndis of Caelin, correct? I am Leila. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She bowed as she said that, and turned to Lyn. "Lady Lyndis, Marquess Caelin is back there receiving treatment."

Lyn gasped. "My grandfather is safe?"

"His life is yet his own," Leila replied.

"Ah! Father Sky and Mother Earth! I thank you for your mercy!" she cried, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Leila, what are you doing here?" asked Hector.

"I... I'm following Lord Uther's orders," she replied. "I'm investigating Marquess Pherae's disappearance."

"My father?" asked Eliwood, surprised. "What have you learned?"

"Come with me," said Leila, pointing us toward the back room. "We should talk in private."

"Oh... okay..." I muttered. I looked at everyone else, who was listening intently. "Um... you guys can take a break, or something. Kent and Sain can lead you to the bedchambers."

"Oh, thank sweet Elimine," sighed Serra. "I'm exhausted."

"At least we won't have to hear any more of your mindless banter," muttered Erk. Everyone laughed at that.

"I will take Marcus upstairs," said Oswin. "Lowen, can you go outside and bring Merlinus and Hannah here? I believe they would like a rest as well."

"I shall follow your command," said Lowen.

With that, the rest of the group left the room, leaving me, Lyn, Hector, and Eliwood.

"Well, I suppose we should follow her," said Lyn.

"Yeah," I replied.

Hector looked at Eliwood, who had a blank look on his face. "Huh? Come on, Eliwood."

"Ah..." Eliwood gasped, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Worrying about things won't change them," said Hector.

"I know," he sighed. "I'm fine. Let's go!"

* * *

We were gathered in one of the castle studies a few minutes later. After we closed the door, Leila began her story.

"Let me start with my conclusion," she started. Eliwood was noticeably nervous, which was unusual for the normally calm lord. "Marquess Pherae... is alive."

"Whooooo! Eliwood!" cheered Hector.

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Lyn.

"Are you sure?" asked Eliwood.

"I've been posing as a member of the Black Fang for several months," she told him. She looked at me and smiled at my quite possibly confused expression. "That's where I got this information. I believe it is true."

"Black Fang... They're the assassins guild that Erik spoke of," said Eliwood. "And the ones Sean claims burned the Academy Hall."

"You told me that you were a part of them last year," I said to Leila. "But, you just said you were investigating Marquess Pherae's disappearance. That was just a little over a month ago."

"This isn't the first time I've spied on them," Leila told me. "Yes, we've known of their existence for quite some time."

"Explain," said Hector.

"The Black Fang is a guild of assassins founded about ten years ago by Brendan Reed," she told us. "They're based in Bern. Their arms reached quickly in several other countries."

"Like Lycia," I muttered, remembering their presence in Khathelet.

"Originally, they targeted only nobles who abused their positions," she continued. "The masses saw them as chivalrous, defenders of the common man. Their activities found wide support."

"Chivalrous..." whispered Hector.

"Yeah, I didn't get that impression either," I said. "Something must have happened."

"Then about a year ago, Brendan got married again," said Leila. "Black Fang's operations have slowly changed since then. Now, they'll take on any target, no matter how difficult, as long as they're paid. And they're no longer killing only criminals; anyone is a fair target."

"Is this Black Fang responsible for what's happened to my grandfather?" asked Lyn.

"Yes," she replied. "We've learned of a mystery man named Nergal, behind Reed's wife."

"Nergal?" I asked.

Leila nodded. "It seems the Black Fang is performing secret tasks across Lycia for Nergal. Nergal's trusted retainer Ephidel is with Marquess Laus. He manipulated Laus into hatching the rebellion plot against Ostia. The first to answer Laus's call for rebellion was... Marquess Santaruz."

"Lord Helman..." gasped Eliwood. "Why would you..."

"Next was Lord Elbert, Marquess Pherae," Leila continued.

"You're telling me that my father endorsed this plan?" asked Eliwood.

Leila shook her head. "I cannot say. I do know that he is with Marquess Laus currently. In a place called... the Dragon's Gate."

"Dragon's Gate?" asked Eliwood. "Where is that?"

Leila's expression turned grim. "On an isle called Valor, off the southern coast of Lycia. I apologize, but that is all the information I have." I could immediately sense the temperature in the room drop as the words sank in.

"Of all places to be, Valor... Blast!" growled Hector.

"What kind of place is it?" asked Lyn.

"It's said that those who step onto the island never return," Eliwood told her. "The common folk call it the Dread Isle."

"Well, that sounds... homely," I muttered.

"If that's where my father is, however, I will go and find him," said Eliwood. "And this 'Dragon's Gate', too!"

There was a pause before Hector spoke up. "I'm going with you. I'll tell you right now, you can't stop me."

"I'm also going," said Lyn.

"Lyndis," Eliwood began. "I appreciate your kindness, but... Shouldn't you stay with Marquess Caelin?"

Lyn shook her head. "Laus must be stopped. Otherwise, they might target my grandfather again. I also wish to help Eliwood's father." Her eyes turned remorseful. "Losing a parent... It's an unbearable pain. It's something I'd rather you didn't have to feel yet."

"So this is the next move," I whispered. "I'm going too. I promised I would help you, Eliwood, and I plan to keep my promises."

"Sean... Lyndis... Hector..." whispered the red-haired lord. "Thank you. You give me strength."

"Don't mention it," smiled Hector.

"Yeah," I told him. "We can't just abandon you in the middle of finding your father."

"We're friends," said Lyn. "It's what friends do, Eliwood."

"I'm also going to continue searching," said Leila. "Lady Lyndis, I think it would be prudent to let the world think Marquess Caelin is dead."

"I understand," said Lyn. "I'll do that. Thank you."

"No thanks necessary," smiled Leila, walking toward the door. "If you'll excuse me."

"Leila!" shouted Hector.

"Yes?" replied the spy.

"Nergal and this... Ephidel? What are they like?" he asked.

"I've yet to lay eyes on Nergal," she answered. "I've spoken to Ephidel on several occassions, however. He's... eerie. He always wears a cloak that covers his face. And yet..."

"What is it?" asked Hector.

"His eyes glow golden..." she finished. "You can't miss them. They seem... inhuman." And with that, she left the room, leaving the rest of us in total silence.

"Ephidel," I whispered. "I didn't get a good look at him that night, but... inhuman? That's... scary..."

"That night?" asked Lyn.

"I'll tell you about it later," I told her. "I'll tell you everything."

* * *

About half an hour later, Kent, Sain, and I went to take care of some unfinished business in the prisons while Lyn tended to Lord Hausen. When we got there, we saw that the Laus soldiers who were still alive were properly restrained by the Caelin guards.

"Ah, Commander Kent, Commander Sain, you've returned," said one of the guards. "So, what are we going to do with these captured soldiers?"

"We're letting them go home," I told him. There was an understandable gasp of shock from everyone in the room when I said that, including from the Laus soldiers. I knew it would come to this, but after thinking things through, I concluded that this was for the best.

"Sean, you can't be serious," said Kent. "These men have killed so many of our own."

"Yes, they do deserve some sort of punishment," said Sain.

"Then what's the alternative?" I asked. "Imprisonment? Torture? Death? The kinds of things that they would've done to you if we hadn't won? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not willing to sink to that level." I took a deep breath. The words I was about to say would determine whether Caelin would be attacked by Laus again in the near future. They had to be spoken clearly, and with confidence. Not exactly my strong points. "Let me start with this," I began. "How many of you Laus soldiers have families in those villages near your castle?"

There was a hesitant silence for a little bit. "Why do you want to know?" demanded one of the soldiers. "You've driven us out of our castle, and now you want to take our families too?"

"If I wanted to take them from you, I'd just leave you tied up in this prison," I told him. "After all, those pirates were really willing to raid those villages once they saw that you guys were busy fighting us. I wonder how they're doing now."

"I... Oh no..." murmured one of the soldiers.

"Your so-called lord took his entire military to fight us," I continued. "His entire military which, by the way, is supposed to serve as defenders of the people. Now, I've always been good with numbers, so let me say this. If how much he cared about the villagers, the common man and woman in Laus, is based on how much he was willing to spare in to protect them, he cares nothing for them at all. He made you all abandon them just to save his own hide."

"You dare accuse Marquess Laus of such an act?" spat another soldier. "You... peasants could never understand the complexities of nobility!"

"Well, I see where Erik gets it from," I muttered. "Now, let me ask you this. Where is Lord Darin?"

"Wh-what?" asked the soldier.

"Well, he commands one of the best militaries in Lycia," I said. "But, you know, I've yet to see the guy. He would normally be ordering the troops to fight against the people who took his castle from him, wouldn't he? And here's the funny thing. After we beat Bernard, we've seen no sign of him."

"What do you mean?" asked another soldier.

"I mean, he's not in the castle," I told him. "It hasn't been that long since we won that battle, so why is it that we can't find him? He's gone. Again."

"I-Imposssible," whispered the soldier.

"He's abandoned all of you," I told them. "Going back to the numbers again, I'd say that he doesn't care about the lives of his soldiers either. He's after rebellion, and that's all he cares about. He'd go so far as to abandon his people, his followers, and even his own son, to gain control of Lycia. That is the kind of man Lord Darin is right now."

"But... he is our lord," said another soldier. "We have sworn our loyalty to him."

"I've read the knightly oaths while I was in your castle," I told him. "It doesn't say that you swear loyalty to Lord Darin. It says that you swear loyalty to Laus. Am I right?"

The soldiers all murmured yes in response. I smiled. I had them now.

"Laus is in trouble now," I told them. "Without their military, your country is defenseless. The people, the true value of Laus, will need your protection. Now, we will let you go under one condition. It's simple, really: You will never attack Caelin again. On this, you swear."

"W-We swear," the soldiers all said at the same time.

"Good," I smiled. "Now, we can't have you picking up your weapons again until you reach the border, so make sure you get some of those from the armories in Laus. We'll provide you with enough gold to buy some weapons when you get there. And then, go defend your people. But mark my words, if we ever have another confrontation like this again, we will not be so merciful. Got it?"

"Y-Yes..." they all answered. The Caelin soldiers untied them, and escorted them out of the castle.

"Beautifully spoken, Sean," smiled Sain. "You've truly become a magnificent tactician."

"Yes," smiled Kent. "But yet, you've stayed true to the boy we met in Bulgar. A mind of steel, and a heart of gold."

"Thanks," I smiled. "Anyway, I doubt we'll have any trouble from them anymore. I've given them another purpose to follow."

"Indeed," chuckled Sain. "It is good to have you with us again, Sean." He held his fist up, which I smiled and knocked my own fist against. It's pretty difficult to describe how happy I was to be back with everyone.

* * *

Things began to calm down after a few hours. The remaining guard helped some of the servants clean up the castle, and there was a moderate feast at the table that evening, which we were all thankful for. Well, all of us except for Lyn, who ate in her grandfather's bedchamber. I decided to leave her alone for a while. After a good amount of time catching up and chatting with everyone else, we went our separate ways, ready for some rest. I headed upstairs to the bedchambers with Eliwood and Wil.

"... and so I told Marcus that he could stay as my advisor, rather than a fighter," said Eliwood. "His injuries aren't grave, but it'll be difficult for him to fight."

"Well, that's good, I suppose," I shrugged. "I do welcome Marcus's opinion on all of my strategies."

"So, why didn't you tell us about the Caelin soldiers?" asked Eliwood. "We all thought they were dead."

"I was about to, but the soldiers inside the throne room started busting the door open," I replied. "I didn't want to risk the remaining Caelin guard being caught by the Laus soldiers because they overheard me. Luckily, Lyn managed to ad-lib something about wanting to fight Bernard alone, which set up the whole deal with the chandelier."

"You needed an open space," Wil realized. "So you used the rest of the army to clear the area under the pretense that Lyn needed an open space to fight in."

"Telling Bernard that the Caelin guard was dead got rid of any suspicion, which sealed the deal," I smiled. "So, in the end, we won back Caelin, and the freed guards didn't have to fight. I think I can call that a successful plan."

"Indeed," laughed Eliwood. "An amazingly clever strategy, Sean. Well done."

"Thanks, I'm proud of it," I chuckled. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Wil, I met your parents in Pherae!"

"Really?" gasped Wil. "Wow... it's been several years since I've seen them. How are they?"

"They're doing just fine," I smiled. "They told me that you were writing home."

"Y-Yes," Wil smiled. "Lyn convinced me to."

"Yeah, she would do that," I laughed. "Have you talked to Rebecca yet?"

"R-Rebecca?" asked Wil.

"Rebecca," I repeated. "You know, magistrate's daughter? Grew up next to you?"

"Oh my... I thought she looked familiar..." said Wil. "Yes, I will go talk to her. It's been far too long."

As we reached the top of the stairs, we were greeted by an amusing sight. Serra, Guy, and Hector were all huddled up, apparently hiding around the corner from someone.

"Hey guys," I greeted. The three of them responded with a "SHHHHHH!"

"What are you doing?" Eliwood asked quietly.

"See for yourself," said Hector. We all gathered around the corner with them and looked to see a pretty interesting surprise.

"So, what have you been doing, Leila?" asked a familiar blonde thief by the name of Matthew. "More dangerous work?"

"We're spies, Matthew," laughed the magenta-haired beauty. "Everything we do is dangerous."

"I thought she left already," I whispered.

"No, she's still here," smiled Guy.

"That's true," Matthew smiled at Leila. "So how long do you think this mission's going to last?"

"My objective is the same as yours: to rescue Marquess Pherae," smiled Leila. "If things go well, I'll be in Ostia at the same time as you are."

"Is that so?" asked Matthew. "You need to visit my hometown."

Leila raised an eyebrow. "Is this where you were born? Why?"

Matthew paused for a few seconds before responding. "To meet my parents," he smiled.

"Hm? Matthew..." Leila began.

"Ha ha. Well, that's that!" said Matthew before Leila could finish. He then ran down the hallway in the opposite direction from us, and we heard a slamming door.

"As slippery as ever..." smiled Leila. "Didn't even wait for my reply." She turned and made her way back toward us. "Oh, by the way, to those who are hiding," she began, which startled all of us. "I could hear you from all the way over here. You may want to try being a little more discreet next time." She then promptly turned into another corridor and left.

"She's good," said Serra.

"So... Matthew and Leila are an item..." I chuckled. "That was somewhat unexpected."

"I had no idea," shrugged Guy.

"They were keeping it at a low profile," said Hector. "I only knew through rumors."

"Well, we know _those_ rumors have credibility now," said Eliwood.

"Okay, well, either way, fun time is over," I told them. "I suggest you all get some sleep. We've had a hard day."

"I concur," smiled Wil. "Good night, everyone!"

"Good night," we all said at the same time before separating. I made my way over to the bedchamber that was given to me, hoping to get some shut-eye. It had been a long day, first with the battles, almost getting killed by falling off a pegasus, almost getting killed by soldiers when I landed, almost getting killed by a mercenary who went on to join us... I almost got killed a lot. I just wanted to go to sleep.

Of course something would come up that would prevent this.

"S-Sean," I heard someone call from behind me. I turned to see a certain lavender-haired pegasus knight running up to my location.

"Hey Florina," I replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I... Um..." she began. "L-Lady Lyn sent me... to tell you to meet her..."

"Lyn did?" I asked. I'm pretty sure I was blushing, but thankfully, it was dark enough to hide it. "O-Okay... where is she?"

"She's in her ch-chamber," said Florina. I suddenly felt my face grow hotter. She wanted me to meet her... in her bedroom? I pinched myself to make sure this wasn't one of my incredibly lewd dreams again. It wasn't. And I'm pretty sure I had a red spot on my arm after that little experiment.

"Okay... I-I know where that is..." I said quietly.

"Sean, I-I just wanted to say good luck," Florina told me quietly. "A-And... um... I-It's very nice to have you with us again..."

"Y-Yeah..." I whispered. "I'm happy to be back."

There was an awkward pause after I said that, before Florina broke the silence. "I-I should go..."

"Yeah," I replied a little too quickly. "Um... You've h-had a long day. You should..."

"Y-Yes, I will," said Florina. "G-Good night."

"Night," I replied as she left. I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Why was everything so awkward around her when it comes to Lyn? I was happy that she wanted us to be together, but whenever the subject came up, everything became so weird. I liked Florina as a good friend... and that was seriously it. Nothing else.

I swear, this isn't going to turn into a soap opera.

After taking a minute to settle down, I headed over to Lyn's room, which was further down the hall, toward what I believe was the northern part of the castle. Lyn stayed in the room that belonged to her late mother, which was, of course, one of the biggest bedrooms in the castle. When I got there, I gently knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I slowly opened the door. "Lyn? It's me," I called. "Um... Florina told me that you wanted to see me?"

"I know it's you, Sean," I heard Lyn say. "Come in."

I walked inside, and saw Lyn at the balcony in her normal Sacaen attire. Well, now I knew I wasn't dreaming. My normal dreams in this kind of situation would involve her on her bed in a sexy nightg...

Never mind.

"Erm... H-Hi..." I started, closing the door behind me.

"Hello," she answered with a small laugh. I sighed. This was Lyn. Of course she would notice when I was nervous. She motioned for me to come join her on the balcony, which I agreed to do by... well, actually joining her on the balcony.

"So... how's your grandfather?" I asked.

"He's recovering," Lyn replied. "Leila did a good job. He will be asleep for some time, but I put some medicine by his bedside for when he wakes up. I'm certain that he will be up again very soon. There's nothing more that I can do now. Reissmann will take care of Caelin while I'm gone."

"You seem to have everything under control," I smiled. "As to be expected from the Lady Lyndis."

"Oh, don't you start," she laughed. "Expectations are what I've had to deal with this entire past year. I'm Caelin's princess, so I'm expected to do everything correctly at social gatherings. Mothers from the noble houses in Caelin expect me to follow their ideas of etiquette and entertain their spoiled sons. I'm expected to not eat too much, not dress myself, not touch a sword... It frustrates me to no end."

"Huh... I thought Lord Hausen said he was going to let up on that," I replied.

"Grandfather... He lets me be myself," she said quietly. "But this society will not change so easily. That's just the way it is."

"I see," I replied.

"And through all of this, I didn't even have you here to talk to..." she whispered. And my heart rate just doubled.

"This... is about me leaving, isn't it?" I asked.

"I know your reasoning," she replied. "And believe me, I understand that you wanted to be a real tactician. But after the Academy Incident... Do you have any idea what I went through? Not knowing where you were? Not knowing if you were still alive or not?"

"I-I..." I started.

"For over three months, you never even wrote to me," she whispered shakily. "You... who can't fight at all. You were traveling by yourself, and I didn't know if you had starved to death, or were killed by bandits, or..." She was really letting the tears flow now.

"I'm s-sorry," I told her. "I-I wanted to come back. I really did, but there were some things I needed to take care of."

"But you could've let me know," she replied. "You could've at least let me know you were alive. I always worry about you, Sean. If I lost you... I..." She then turned and... well, jumped on me, pulling me into her arms. My thoughts turned fuzzy as she wrapped her arms around me and buried her sobbing face into my neck. "I don't want to lose you..." she whimpered.

"Y-You won't..." I whispered, putting my arms around her waist. "You won't. I promise, Lyn."

It was a weird feeling letting Lyn cry into my shoulders. She was normally the strong one. The girl who took down Batta the Beast without batting an eyelash. The girl who had such resolve against the Taliver Bandits and Lundgren. The girl who, just that day, had taken down the two commanders of the Laus army. That immensely strong Sacaen girl was crying into my small, bony shoulder.

I don't know how long we stood there in each other's arms under the starry night sky, but I honestly didn't care. I was just happy that we were together again.

* * *

_A/N: Yes, I threw in a Sean/Lyn moment at the end. After writing all of this, the chapter just didn't seem complete without one. But hey, the ending kinda sorta relates to the chapter title!_

_... I swear, this won't become a soap opera._

_Now, several moments throughout this chapter may classify Sean as a Gary Stu, which, as I said before, I really don't want to happen. However, I feel that I really need to show how much Sean has grown into a real tactician over the course of this story, and with this being the last real battle against Laus, I felt the need to tie up some loose ends. I wanted to show that Sean's intelligence is well-established outside of the field of battle, given his peaceful background. He's not simply a war tactician, which I think puts him at a new level of characterization. However, since he's Sean, certain moments of awkwardness are thrown in now and then, just to make things fun._

_The whole deal with Raven was kind of fun. I'm basing his reactions off of the fact that when you see him in the game, he will attack any unit except Priscilla. So, why not have him attack Sean and have our useless-in-battle tactician face off against one of the best units in the game? I think it turned out well enough, though I kind of wish he made more of an appearance later in the chapter. Oh well._

_The funny thing is that Lyn mentions half of the Caelin guards were killed in combat, and you're supposed to free the rest of them. All three. No wonder Laus took over so easily. I decided that would be a good thing to take liberties with in this chapter, so I made the prisons larger, and had more guards. I hope that you're not too disappointed with the conclusion of the fight, since it's based on how Sean tried to beat Lundgren. Still, I think the plan he made was rather clever. I hope the way I wrote it was as well._

_Well, that's all I have to say. Please review!  
_


	8. Chapter 6x: The Port of Badon

_A/N: Guess who's alive! I am! _

_Okay, really sorry for delaying this for... 7 months? Really? I really hate writer's block. I was honestly stuck on this chapter for a really long time. Why? Well, like the Merlinus side-story, The Port of Badon doesn't really advance the storyline. It's kind of like a filler episode. All it does is make the story longer. So, I had some thoughts about not writing this chapter at all, and skipping to the next chapter where storyline stuff starts happening. You'll know if you've played the game. But, a few reasons made me actually feel the need to write this chapter, which I will discuss at the very end after you've read everything. Enjoy!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 6x: The Port of Badon

During my relatively short stay in Elibe, I had seen a lot of battles take place. The small ragtag bands of soldiers that I had commanded over the course of the past year or so was no stranger to violence and death. And neither was I. At one point, I would've felt queasy seeing death and would've scorned people who felt excited over the notion of taking another life. I would never have imagined that I would actually befriend some of these people who love fighting, and even count on them to protect my own life. Guided by my direction and fueled by their own passion, we've taken many lives, and (I hoped) saved so many more.

Despite all that, I still felt nauseous at the situation I found myself in.

"C'mon, Bartre!" shouted a drunken man who was sitting next to me. "I got all me gold ridin' on yer axe! Ye better not end up dead!"

"Show 'em what ye got, Pintel!" shouted another one. "Let's see some blood on that sword of yers! Ye didn't raid all them ships by dancin' 'round, did ye?"

Maybe it was the stench of alcohol in the stands, or maybe it was the body odor of the sweaty sailor men, or maybe it was the bloodfest that we all sat through before placing our bets, or maybe it was a combination of the three. Either way, it was incredibly uncomfortable sitting there watching our own axeman Bartre face down a brutish man with a large sword. The floor of the arena was already stained with the blood of previous competition before Bartre stepped onto the stage.

"I can't believe we're letting him do this," I muttered.

"It is a barbaric form of entertainment," said Dorcas. "Most of the spectators seem to be the lowlives of the sea."

"It is the fastest way to earn some gold in this town," sighed Lowen. "As barbaric as it is, we really have no other choice."

Remember how I thought that traveling with Eliwood would solve all of my financial troubles? Well, that was true for a while, but it turns out that even lords have a limit on how much gold they can carry on them before being burdened by the weight. Remember, paper money doesn't exist in this world. So, after spending some money on new weapons and various other items at the shops in Caelin's port city of Badon, we found ourselves short on cash. I proposed that we could split up. Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn would go with Oswin and Marcus to scout for a boat to take us to Valor, while the rest of us would find ways to make some money to pay for said boat. We were going to meet in an inn near the port once we were finished.

Which leads us to the arena, where Bartre was attempting to cleave the opposing swordsman in two so we could win some traveling funds. The swordsman retaliated with a quick slash, which Bartre had to dodge, leaving his axe embedded in the ground. He was now unarmed against the swordsman.

"I can't watch this," I muttered, moving toward the exit. "Let me know how it goes. After we get some money, meet me at the inn."

"Alright," said Dorcas. "We will meet again soon, Sean. Don't worry, Bartre is not one to fall so easily."

"I hope you're right," I answered, leaving the bloodsport behind. As I exited, I took in the scent of the sea in order to cleanse my nostrils of the bloody arena. I really should've been used to it by this point, but that arena was a bit too much.

"Might as well go see if we've got any progress on a ship yet," I muttered. I walked toward the inn where we were supposed to meet afterward. The port city of Badon was bustling, but still rather calm. Although the arena was filled with loud obnoxious drunken sailors, this small city was one of the most welcoming places I'd visited since arriving in Elibe. I passed by a small market where vendors were selling fish, and saw a familiar face staring somberly at a recently caught sea bass as she rested her body against a nearby wall.

"Hungry, Rebecca?" I asked, walking over to her.

"Huh?" the archer asked, slightly startled. "Oh. Hello, Sean. No, I was just... never mind."

"I'm guessing that the fish wasn't something that you were intentionally staring at," I smiled. "Care to talk about it?"

"I... talked to Wil," she began.

"Oh?" I asked. "Nothing sounds wrong about th-"

"And he didn't recognize me," she whispered.

"...Oh," I replied. "That's odd, I could've sworn-"

"Well, that isn't entirely true," Rebecca continued. "When he asked about Rebecca, I told him I didn't know anyone by that name."

I paused for a second. "You do realize that that means he actually _did_ recognize you, right?"

"I do," she sighed. "It's just that it's been so long, and I was nervous. What should I say?"

"Well..." I thought for a second. "... 'Hello', for starters?"

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Sean, I respect you as a tactician and a friend, but you're not very good at giving advice."

"Yeah... my mind likes to draw blanks at things like this," I sighed. "Well, since we're all going to be going on this excursion together, we should all be able to talk to each other. That's all I can say about the situation."

"Yes, I suppose that makes sense," said Rebecca. "I'll talk to him once I see him."

"Why wait?" I smiled. "We've got some time to kill. You can go look for him."

"O-Of course," said Rebecca, running toward the docks. "Thank you, Sean!"

I have to admit, I was kind of proud of myself at that point. Despite the whole 'world-saving tactician' thing going on, I was also able to be someone who gave simple, friendly advice to people who needed it. I guess with all of the raging battles and evil lords that were commonplace in my life, this was something that helped me realize that I was still myself.

Of course, being myself isn't all it's cracked up to be.

* * *

I made my way to the inn where we were supposed to meet, since I really didn't have anything else to do at that point. As soon as I opened the door and walked in, I stopped. The building I was in was not the inn that we decided to meet at. Instead, it was a tavern filled with loud, burly, drunken sailors and a few stocky knights. I swear, I was probably the smallest thing with a Y-chromosome in that place. All of the tables had a minimum of three emptied mugs of ale per person sitting there and a least two half-filled frothy mugs in addition to them. Most of the sailors were laughing heartily, while simultaneously spitting little pieces of what I presumed was the fish that they had yet to completely swallow.

Sanitation and hygiene was obviously not a requirement for this facility.

"Okay... this is obviously the wrong place..." I muttered to myself and began to turn around and head back outside.

Now, as demonstrated previously, karma freaking hates me. Or likes to build up negatively so that something really good will happen to me in the future in order to balance things out. I can never tell. Regardless, as I was turning around, the door flew open, knocking me backward. Before I could regain my footing, I managed to step on my cloak. _Again_. With my already being off-balance, this just made the situation worse, and I tripped over and fell on one of the tavern's serving girls, who then proceeded to fall over and spill the ale she was carrying onto one of the knights.

I'm thinking of classifying these particular mishaps as 'Sean-moments', due to how often they happen to me... and only me.

"You little... Look at what you did, wench!" The knight growled, standing up. He was a lot taller than I realized, towering over both me and the pretty red-haired serving girl. He wasn't as muscular as some of the other patrons, though. His face was sort of wiry, and his hair and goatee were a dark purple. Yeah... people in Elibe have interesting hair colors. The knight brushed some of the spilled ale from his armor, and threw drops of the collected liquid at both of our faces. "You've ruined my armor!"

"I-I apologize," said the girl, picking up some.

"That's all you can say?" shouted the knight, furiously. The entire tavern seemed to quiet down, and I could see everyone staring at the scene that I had inadvertantly created. "This armor was just polished by the finest armorer in Lycia! And now, you've ruined it with your incompetence!"

The girl didn't look up as she put the emptied mug back on the tray, and started to stand up.

"Will you look at me?" the knight commanded. "LOOK AT ME, WENCH!" He lunged forward and grabbed her arm, causing her to drop the tray and mug she had just picked up.

"Whoa, calm down, buddy!" I jumped in, putting myself between them. I almost gagged at the stench of booze that was permeating from the knight's mouth. "Look, I-I fell over and knocked her into you. It was _my_ fault, but it was an accident. Can we just let this slide?"

"So, _you_ are the one who soiled my armor," growled the knight.

I paused. "Y-Yeah... I-I guess if you look at things that way..." In retrospect, that wasn't the best thing I could've said to a large, pissed-off, drunk guy who was already in a less-than-rational state of mind. He let go of the serving girl and grabbed me by the neck, choking me.

"You're going to regret your insolence, boy," the knight growled. "Showing yourself to me was not a very good decision. Now that I have you in my grasp, I will not let you live!"

"No, stop!" shouted the serving girl. "Please stop! He didn't mean any harm!" She grabbed his free arm to get his attention. The jackass then turned and slapped her so hard she actually fell over at the foot of another table.

"You stay out of this, wench," growled the knight, his hand still holding me in a chokehold as I struggled to breathe. "I will deal with you later. But first, I must finish th-"

He was interrupted by a punch in the jaw. The knight staggered backward and let me out of his grasp. I fell over coughing, trying to regain my composure.

"You call yourself a knight?" laughed the man who had saved me. "Strangling whelps and abusing young women? Shameful!" He was an older man, with a gray, shaggy beard, and a ridiculously buff body. He wore an opened purple longcoat which left his muscular front torso (and hairy chest) for the world to see, and old white pants with brown leather boots. And the top of his head was an off-white bandana, which pretty much told me that the man was, in fact, a pirate.

"Who are you?" demanded the man who tried to strangle me.

"You haven't been in Badon long, have you?" the pirate said with a triumphant smirk. It was just then that I noticed that all of the sailors in the tavern had stood up and began converging on our location. "I'm very well-known in these parts, y'see? You may call me Fargus, captain of the Davros!"

"Y-You are Fargus?" gasped the knight, obviously frightened. The pirate's triumphant smirk was his answer. Apparently he _did_ know about him.

"Now, don't think you can just waltz in me favorite pub and strike at me mate's woman without facing me, knight. Now, I'm gonna give you one chance to leave Badon. And if I catch you showin' yer face around 'ere again, I will see to it that my axe is the last thing you will get to see."

The tension in the air was noticably thick. Tall as the knight was, he was still overwhelmed by the pirate captain. With a sneer, he turned to me.

"Don't think this is over," he growled, kneeling down to my level. "I'm not finished with you, Tactician..."

My eyes widened. I just stared at the knight as he got up and made his way out of the pub. I was completely speechless. It was like my brain had completely shut down to take in the realization of what just happened. 'Tactician'? I had just met the guy! How did he know about me being a tactician? We had just gotten to this city less than a day before, and I never introduced myself to anyone. I didn't really have time to think any more as I felt a large hand clap down painfully on my left shoulder.

"It's alright, laddie," smiled Fargus. "He won't be botherin' you anymore."

"Wouldn't be too sure about that," I whispered, rubbing my left shoulder. "But, thanks for the save."

"Think nothing of it, lad!" laughed the pirate. "After all, I was the one to knock you into little Anna in the first place. Would've been wrong of me not to lend a hand."

Right. He's the one who forcefully opened the door. Still, I was the one who tripped into her, so partially my fault as well.

"Are you alright?" asked the serving girl, helping me up.

"Y-Yeah, than... ks" I replied, trailing off. I finally got a good look at her, since she kept hiding her face from the knight, and... well, I guess there should be more than one definition for a 'Sean-moment', complete neurological shutdown while being near an attractive person of the opposite gender being the second definition. She was just a little older than me, with red-hair tied in a short ponytail, and was wearing a dark-red dress with yellow linings. She smiled at me, which made me blush several shades of red.

"Ha ha, don't get any ideas, lad," laughed Fargus, patting me (forcefully) on the back. "Little Anna here is the love of me mate Jake! And I swear, I will make sure that every lad in Elibe keeps their grubby paws off her 'til they get together. That clear, laddie?"

"Y-Yes sir..." I whimpered in a frightened manner. Fargus gave me a confused look, and then started laughing heartily. It wasn't long before the rest of the sailors in the tavern joined in. I know I can go with the "laughing _with _you" cliché to make myself feel better, but I hung my head low to hide the blushing anyway.

As I said, being me isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"I like you, boy," smiled Fargus. "How would you feel about joinin' me crew? You're not much for a fighter, but I saw how you stood up to that knight when he was threatening Little Anna. You've got guts, lad, and ol' Captain Fargus can shape you into a fine seaman. What do you think?"

"Erm... I'm actually already with another... uh, crew," I told him. I didn't really want to mention that I wasn't up for going up with pirates. Plus there's that whole "fate of the world" thing going on.

"Ah, that's a shame," laughed the pirate. "So, what are you in Badon for?"

"Well... I-"

"Sean?"

I turned to the familiar voice from the door, and saw Eliwood and Hector standing there. They apparently had just walked in.

"Oh... speaking of my crew..." I started.

"Ah, good work, Sean!" laughed Hector. "Seems you've done our job before we could tell you what it was."

"I... what?" I asked.

"No ships will give us passage to where we're going," said Hector. "It was suggested we consult pirates for help. And before we even got here, you've gathered a group. Well done, Sean!"

"Er... thanks..." I replied. Yeah, a lot of my accidents end up being good. Maybe this was how karma balanced things out?

I still deserve a sports car or something.

"Sir, if we could have a word?" said Eliwood to Fargus. "We have something to ask of you."

"What do you want, whelps?" asked Fargus. "You're here to see me, aren't you?"

"You're commander of the pirate armada, aren't you?" asked Eliwood.

Fargus paused for a second before bellowing out laughter. "'Commander of the pirate armada!' I like the sound of that! Are you lads that naive? Or are you just dumb? Which is it?"

"You insolent-" growled Hector.

"Peace, Hector!" shouted Eliwood. He then turned back toward Fargus. "If I've insulted you, I apologize. How should I address you?"

"Hmph... You don't frighten easily, do you?" smiled the pirate. "Well, at least it seems you're not stupid. 'Captain' will do, whelp. I'm Fargus, captain of the Davros."

"Fargus... Master Fargus? Or should I call you Captain?" asked Eliwood.

Fargus smirked. "You're not one of my mates. Call me Fargus. Now, what do you want?"

"We want to book passage to Valor," Eliwood replied. The gasps from several of the crewmembers confirmed that they knew something was crazy. I sighed. Valor seemed like it was a lost cause. There was no way Fargus would agree to-

"How much will you pay?"

Never mind.

"We don't know the current rates," replied Eliwood. "Tell us how much you want."

"100,000 gold," Fargus quickly replied.

Hector's eyes widened. "Wait, 100,000 gold?"

"That's a lot of money..." I muttered.

"Well? Will you pay?" asked Fargus. I turned to Eliwood. We were already short on cash and making as much money as we could from the arena battles. But 100,000 gold was not something that would be easy to get.

Eliwood sighed. "We've no choice, but we need a little time," he replied. "We'll get the gold and return as quickly as possible. Come, Hector, Sean." The red-haired lord turned and made his way out of the pub.

"Wa-Wait a moment!" Hector started. "Eliwood!"

I looked at Fargus and Anna for a few seconds, and then turned and went after the two lords.

* * *

"Eliwood! Hold on!" I heard Hector call after the Pheraean lord. Eliwood turned to face him, and I had just managed to catch up to both of them. "Where do you think you're going to get 100,000 gold?" asked Hector.

"I'm sure there's an arena here," said Eliwood. "We can raise gold somehow..."

Yeah, we were already doing that. Bartre was taking place in that bloodsport going on there.

"What? You're not serious!" asked Hector. "I thought you had no love for senseless violence!"

"We've no other way, do we?" Eliwood shot back. He was clearly agitated at the idea as well.

"Well, no," Hector replied quietly.

"There is an arena close to the port itself," I told Eliwood. "We're already using it to make some extra funds. I guess we'll need to spend a bit longer here than before."

"I see," said Eliwood. "I'm happy that you still have things under control, Sean."

"Thanks," I replied. Still, I could see that he didn't really approve of the killing for money idea, but there honestly was no other choice.

Hector shook his head. "Sometimes you surprise me, Eliwood."

"Did you say something, Hector?" asked Eliwood.

"No, nothing," smiled the Ostian lord. "Let's go earn some gold!"

We were about to make our way to the arena, when one of the pirates came out of the pub after us.

"Ahoy! Hold your ground, boys!" he shouted. He was a muscular young man about my age. His hair was brown and undre a white bandana, and wore an aqua-colored, striped, sleveless shirt over white pants and brown boots. He had an orange scarf tied around his waist, and had two hand-axes strapped to the back of the scarf.

"What now?" demanded Hector. "We don't have the money yet."

The pirate chuckled. "Fool! Of course you don't! I know that. The captain's got a message for you."

"A message?" asked Eliwood.

The young pirate smiled. "All of my mates in this village are going to attack you. If you can beat us all and get to the ship unharmed, he'll give you passage."

"For free? No gold?" asked Eliwood, surprised.

"The captain's a tad off-kilter," the pirate replied, making a 'crazy' gesture with his index finger. "He'd rather have a bit o' fun with you than take your gold. Smooth sailing to you." And with that, he left toward the port, blowing a loud whistle. Just then, all of the pirates that were in the tavern came out and made their way toward the port, while some others came from the village shops. It was almost typical how this started.

"Well, this is an interesting alternative," I muttered.

"Hey, Landlubber!" shouted the young pirate. "Over here! I'm over here!" He then ran past some pirates, and I couldn't see him anymore.

"Oh, for... This is a joke, isn't it?" said Hector.

"Looks serious enough," Eliwood replied.

"Yeah..." I muttered. "We need some help. Where's Lyn?"

"She left us after we decided to seek help from pirates," Eliwood replied. "She was completely against trusting people like them. I... can't say that I blame her."

"Y-Yeah..." I whispered. "After everything she went through, she has every reason to find another way." I thought back to that night in Khathelet, when she gave me the full story of what happened the night of the Taliver. Her painful description of what they did to her tribe, her lost love, and her family, was enough to traumatize anyone. The poor girl watched them get _poisoned_, for god's sake. Now, she must have seen a little bit of the Taliver in all outlaws, be they bandit or pirate. She saw monsters who would massacre another family, and show no mercy. It probably explains why she could be so brutal to them during our fights with them.

"Be that as it may, the pirates are our only way to get to Valor," said Hector. "She promised to help you find your father. She will simply need to deal with it."

Wow, that was... insensitive. I mean, he was absolutely correct, but still...

"What's going on?"

I turned to see Serra, Erk, Priscilla, Raven, and Lucius run up to us. "We heard that whistle, and suddenly there was a large gathering of sailors near the docks," said Priscilla.

"We've landed ourselves in a... weird situation," I told them.

"We've found passage to the Dread Isle," said Eliwood. "But, to do so, we need to reach the captain of these pirates. All of his men are going to be blocking our way, so we need to make our way through them to pass the test."

"It seems like some sort of initiation," said Raven.

"Something like that," I replied. "Look, we're going to need all of your help to get through them. Are you in?"

"Of course," smiled Lucius.

"We will be happy to help," said Serra. "And Erk will offer his services as well!"

"As much as I dislike having words put in my mouth, I will follow along," said the young mage. "But, do you think that we will be enough?"

"The Davros does have a rather sizable crew," said Hector. "What do you think, Sean?"

"I don't really want to power through them," I replied. "But with these narrow streets, we shouldn't have a huge problem with this number. On the other hand, these pirates seem to have quite a reputation around here. Fargus even seems respected by the people of Badon. He wouldn't have that reputation just from drunken brawls on the streets."

"You believe that he has some ulterior motive?" asked Eliwood.

"Most likely," I replied. "Fargus wouldn't just throw his crew into a brawl for the hell of it. He must be trying to gauge our response, and see what we can do there."

Just then, a familiar Sacaean girl walked over to us in the middle of discussing our plans.

"What's happening?" asked Lyn. "There was some commotion in the village."

"Oh! Lyn! Nice timing," said Hector. "We need your help!"

Lyn looked over at the huge crowd of pirates at the docks. "You're battling the pirates?" she asked.

"Fighting and... Look, we have to reach the docks and speak to the captain!" said Eliwood. "This is a test to see whether or not he'll give us passage."

Lyn looked confused. "I don't understand, but..." She turned to me, and smiled. "I'm here, so let me help!"

"Okay, basically, the pirate captain Fargus has told us that we need to reach him at the end of the docks in order for him to give us passage to Valor," I told Lyn. "But to do so, we need to get past a bunch of his crew. Hence the big crowd of pirates at the docks."

"I see," said Lyn. "The man doesn't care for his crew at all. What scum..."

"On the contrary, he seems to command a lot of genuine respect from his crewmembers," said Eliwood. "They have no fear in their eyes. They simply follow him unconditionally as a leader, of their own free will."

"Which leads me to question about what sort of test this is in the first place," I sighed. "Why would such a respected leader just throw his men into battle for the fun of it? He's basically made this little skirmish worth 100,000 gold!"

"Pardon me!" We looked to see a tall, purple-haired man wearing a monocle. His robe was blue, he had white pants underneath, brown boots, and a large red scarf around his waist. And covering it all was a dark indigo cloak. "I was speaking with an old sailor a few moments ago. He told me that you're planning to travel to Valor."

"We are," said Hector. "What is it to you?"

"Is that so? Really?" smiled the scholarly man. "And that's why you're playing tag with these pirates?"

"Well... 'playing tag' isn't exactly what I'd call this activity," I replied.

"I see," he said. "In that case, would you mind if I joined you? My name is Canas. I'm a scholar of sorts... I've been seeking passage to Valor, but none will take me."

"Join us?" demanded Hector. "Who do you think you-"

"My proposal probably sounds somewhat selfish, no?" smiled Canas. "You should know, I can help in combat. I've some skill with a form of elder magic... Some call it dark magic, a rather biased term, if I must be blunt. But at the very least, I can take care of myself, and perhaps others."

"You use dark magic?" I asked.

"As I said, it is quite a biased term," said Canas. "It is the eldest form of magic, but also among the most powerful. I wish to seek the secrets that can be found on Valor about it. The knowledge of Brammimond himself is said to be stored somewhere on that island. It is my dream to master it as he has."

"You must have some working knowledge of the island then," said Lyn.

"Yes, well... only what I have read about," replied the shaman.

"He may be of use to us after all," said Raven.

"Yes, but back to the matter at hand, we still need to get to Fargus to even use his working knowledge," said Erk.

"Yes, Fargus does have quite the reputation," said Canas. "It is said that he is a highly respected man in Badon. And he sails quite frequently, but the people who join him are almost all former soldiers who wish for a more free life on the sea. In fact, he always puts the soldier recruits to a test such as this in order to see what sort of men he is recruiting."

"Really? This isn't the first time?" asked Priscilla.

"Oh, heavens no," replied Canas. "There's something like this every month. He does keep it a secret about what he is truly testing, but I do know that he rarely accepts men who try to run through all of his pirates. Mostly because after trying they are hardly in shape to be on a ship at all. But there have been cases where men have fought their way through his crew to reach him, suffering many injuries in the process. He doesn't accept them afterward."

"That's interesting," I thought aloud. "They reach him after fighting through all of his crewmembers, and he doesn't accept them? How does that make sense? It's exactly what he told them to do!" And then, it hit me. It was so freaking simple that I'm kind of sad it took that long for me to come up with it. "He's not testing to see how well we fight. The objective is just to reach him. He wants to see us do that without just forcing our way through, since a stunt like that would likely cause more harm to us than to them."

"I see," said Eliwood. "Then, everything fits together. Not only would such a test show the cleverness of the recruits, but it would show the recruit's compassion for his fellow crewmembers. It tests the ability of the recruit to work with the crew!"

"A ship cannot sail if even one sailor cannot do his job," said Lyn. "I must admit, Fargus is a clever man."

"This still leaves the problem of how we're going to reach Fargus without forcing our way through," said Hector. "The way to the docks is now blocked by his pirate crew. It will be impossible to reach him without fighting."

"I have an answer for that," said a voice from behind Lyn. It was Anna, the serving girl from the tavern. She gave a small smile. "I apologize for eavesdropping, but I heard about your contest with the pirate captain, Fargus. You've got nerve, I'll give you that!"

"Thank you," replied Eliwood. "Now, what's your answer to our problem?"

The red-head smiled, rested her index finger on her cheek and winked. "Let me give you some advice. Don't try to overpower the pirates. Take the narrow path next to the tavern, and follow the wall toward the sea. Pass in front of the last house, and stay close to the sea wall. You should be able to get to Fargus and win your game!"

I looked at the path she was describing. Sure enough, there was an opening in the wall behind the tavern just big enough for a single person to fit through. We just needed to follow the wall to get to the docks. And the rest would be easy.

"You seem very knowledgable about the pirates," said Lyn, looking at Anna. "Why do you know all this?"

"Why do I know all this?" smiled Anna. "Well, my sweetie's a pirate. His name's Jake, and he's the best. If you see him, tell him Anna's worried about him!"

"Of course," smiled Eliwood. "Thank you, Anna. You have been very helpful."

"It was nothing," she winked. "After all, Sean was kind enough to save me from that knight. The least I can do is make sure his friends don't get killed. I wish you luck."

And with that, Anna made her way back to the tavern. Lyn turned to me with a smile.

"So, you saved her, Sean? You've become quite capable."

Judging by everyone else's reaction, I was probably blushing like mad from the unearned compliment. I mean, I guess if by 'saved her', she meant 'diverted the crazy knight's attention to me', then yes, I did save her. Of course, then _I_ was the one who needed to be saved. Oh well, who needs details?

"Okay, we have our plan," said Eliwood. "Here we go!"

* * *

Well, the plan almost worked without a hitch. We managed to squeeze through the hole in the wall behind the tavern, and got to sneaking around the northern part of Badon to get to the docks. As we got past the house that Anna told us about, it seemed that the pirates still hadn't noticed us.

"There's Fargus," whispered Hector, pointing to the captain, who was simply standing there on the docks. "We simply need to move swiftly to reach him, and we're as good as done!"

There was a sigh of relief from the rest of the group. The plan itself was simple enough, and executing it was even simpler. This was partly due to the fact that Fargus probably _wanted_ us to pass his test, which left us a way to get through it. From here, it would literally be smooth sailing...

... if what happened next didn't happen.

"What mooncalves! I would've let 'em sit there if they hadn't come any closer. Up and at 'em, mates! Attack!"

Fargus's shout snapped us back to reality. I looked at Eliwood, who had a clearly worried expression on his face. Did he see us? Would we actually have to fight his crew to get to him?

"Sean..." I looked at Lyn, who was pointing toward the arena to the south of the dock. "I don't think he's referring to us..."

We looked at where she was pointing, and saw a group of familiar faces that were near the entrance to the docks, obviously confused about the situation that was unfolding. From that distance, I could only make out a green-haired girl with a bandana, a lavender-haired girl with a white pegasus, and older knight on horseback in reddish armor, and a heavily armored knight in orange. They were backing away slowly from the approaching pirates, the armored knight stepping forward protectively in front of the others.

"This isn't good," I whispered.

"We have to help them!" said Lyn. "Marcus is in no shape to fight, and there are far too many for them to handle without him!"

"We should rush to Fargus and get him to stop his test," said Eliwood. "I think we can make it."

"Okay, we'll do that," I replied. "Alright, we rush in together on three. One... Two... Thr- WHOA!" I screamed as I saw an arrow flying toward us. I fell backward and landed on my butt, and the arrow embedded itself on the ground between my legs. Yep, I was almost castrated by an arrow. I guess I should be thankful it didn't land a few inches further, but still, how many regular people can possibly have this many close calls in a lifetime?

"Sean, are you alright?" asked Lyn.

"Y-Yeah... No worries, I think I'll still be able to have chil... dren...," I replied, trailing off at the end as soon as I realized who I was talking to. Did I seriously just tell Lyn not to worry because I'm capable of having kids? Really? I glanced at everyone else. The males all had somewhat surprised looks on their faces, except for Hector, who just had a really amused grin plastered on his. Serra and Priscilla were looking away, but had faint blushes on their cheeks. Of course, the blushing of the two healers' was outdone by Lyn's noticably bright red face as the words I just said to her apparently sank in, and she was just staring at me in stunned disbelief. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd seen her blushing that hard, and really, I couldn't blame her.

Sometimes I wonder why I even have the ability to talk.

"I-I-I think I'll just shut up now..." I muttered quietly. I felt my face grow really hot as those words left my mouth. It was easy to tell that Hector was holding back his laughter.

Erk cleared his throat. "Back to the matter at hand, I believe that arrow came from those men over there." The young mage pointed toward several men led by a knight on a white horse in familiar indigo armor. Yep, it was the guy who had choked just a little bit earlier that day. Who would've thunk it?

"They don't look much like pirates," said Canas.

"They're not," I told him. "The guy in the purple armor is a knight. Well, actually, I'm guessing former knight. I met him at that tavern after I knocked a mug of ale onto him."

"You really have a knack for angering hostile people, Sean," said Hector.

"You have no idea," I muttered in reply. "He really didn't leave on a nice note either. I mean, he basically told me that he'd be... back..." I trailed off again. You know, for a tactician, these obvious realizations hit me way later than they should. "'Tactician'. He called me 'Tactician'."

"What?" asked Eliwood.

"We haven't even been here a day," I whispered. "And yet, he knew that I was a tactician. I don't think we told anyone about that. How the hell did he know?"

"Sean, while you wonder about that, some people in your army are about to be attacked," said Raven. "I suggest you think quickly."

"Right," I replied. I looked toward the knight's group, who looked like they had spotted us. The knight shouted something I couldn't hear, and his group of lackeys started toward us. We didn't have time to talk to Fargus _and_ make it past that other group. "Okay okay, new plan. Hector, Canas, and Serra, go toward Oswin and the others and try to hold off the pirates until we can get Fargus to stop this test. Lyn, Raven, you go intercept that knight's group. Lucius, Erk, Priscilla, follow Raven. Eliwood, with me. We're going to get Fargus to stop his test. No time to rethink, go!"

At the last word, everyone separated and did as they were told. Hector charged into the group of pirates with a loud battle cry and managed to take a couple by surprise, and Canas fired several dark orbs, knocking several pirates down. Lyn and Raven drew their swords and readied themselves to fight the knight and his posse, and Erk and Lucius readied their spells. As soon as they engaged the group, I nodded at Eliwood, and we made a dash toward the docks.

Unfortunately, the purple knight saw us running. He ignored Lyn, and started toward Eliwood and me in order to intercept us. Well, his horse was faster than us, and blocked our path to the docks.

"We meet again, Tactician," he smirked.

"Yeah, figures," I muttered.

"How do you know about Sean?" Eliwood demanded. "Who are you?"

The magenta haired paladin had a really evil smirk as he stroked his beard. "You may call me Damian, Lord Eliwood of Pherae," he replied.

"It seems like less of a surprise that you know about Eliwood as well," I said. "We need to get to the docks, Damian. Out of the way!"

"Oh, that won't be necessary," he smirked. "You see, because of this little diversion, you no longer have your full group with you. Instead, I merely need to deal with a simple tactician and a lone prince. Lord Eliwood of Pherae... You don't yet know to fear the Black Fang. Start grieving... for I will teach you that fear." Damian pointed his sword at Eliwood, who took a step back.

"The Black Fang..." he growled. "If you are with them, then I have no choice but to fight you. I will reach the Dread Isle! I will find my father!"

"Before worrying about your father, you should worry about yourself," said Damian. "You're about to die, Lord Eliwood. Scream if you must." With that said, he began swinging his blade. Eliwood and I leapt in different directions to avoid getting hit. The red-haired lord rolled on the ground and unsheathed his rapier in time to parry the next swing.

"Sean! I'll keep him distracted!" he shouted. "Get to the docks!"

"O-Okay!" I replied, and immediately bolted toward Fargus's location.

"You will not pass!" shouted Damian, starting to turn to make his way toward us. However, Eliwood quickly made a jab at the white horse's back leg. With a cry of pain, the horse fell over, knocking Damian to the ground. The knight quickly dismounted and drew he sword. As he started toward me, Eliwood stepped in front of him.

"It is you that will not pass," he smirked and got into a ready stance.

"Have at you!" growled Damian, lunging toward the lord.

At this point, I had made it to the docks and ran over to where Fargus was sitting on a barrel. As I reached him, he smiled. "Ah, so you've made it, lad!"

"Yeah," I replied. "We've passed your test, Captain Fargus. Now call off the pirates!"

"Ha! Did you not think I saw you coming, lad?" laughed the pirate. "I called off the attack while you were fighting that knight! When you reached the docks, it was clear that you had succeeded this challenge!"

"Wh-What?" I gasped. I looked toward the town gate. Sure enough, the pirates had stopped, and some were even helping Hector get up after he was apparently hit several times before the attack was called off. "Oh... I guess running here was a little unnecessary..."

"Nothin' wrong with fully completing the challenge," said Fargus. "Now, you seem to want a bit o' help with this angry knight, yes?" He looked at his crew, and took a deep breath before speaking again. "MEN! HEAR ME!" his voice boomed. "THERE IS A KNIGHT HERE WHO TRIED TO INTERFERE WITH OUR CHALLENGE! SEE TO IT THAT HE GETS HIS PUNISHMENT!"

With an agreeing cheer, the pirates all made their way to help against the small Black Fang force lead by Damian. It wasn't long before they were forced back.

"Wh-What?" cried the knight. "Curses! I must retreat, lest I be-"

Eliwood interrupted with another thrust of his rapier, which Damian parried. "You are not to leave," he growled.

"On the contrary, that is exactly what I am going to do," Damian replied, knocking the blade away and turning to run... into a certain brown-haired axe-wielder that we knew so well.

"Bartre!" exclaimed Eliwood.

"What's this?" laughed Bartre. "Seems to me you've been fighting Lord Eliwood. That must mean you are someone that I'm allowed to fight my best against!"

"Back off, peasant!" shouted Damian. "My sword can best your axe any time! Now let me-" He was interrupted by a hand axe coming from behind Bartre and embedding itself into his shoulder. The man fell over in pain, which was dwarfed by the scream he made when a second axe caught him in the other shoulder. Damian clutched his bleeding shoulder wounds. "Gaa... ha..." he whispered. "Crow in... triumph... you've-" A third hand axe silenced him for good, causing him to stagger backwards and fall into the sea. I watched as the knight slowly sank into the blue, and the lack of air bubbles after a minute or so told me that this was the final move. Damian was dead.

"Oy! Good throwing arm y'got there, Dart!" shouted Bartre. "You got 'im good!"

"Thanks, Bartre," laughed the young pirate who had given us this assignment in the first place. "That means a lot coming from the arena champion!"

"Champion?" I gasped. "Bartre won all of his matches?"

"Yes, and I've got the big sack of gold to prove it!" the axe-wielder laughed. "But, seems we don't need it anymore."

"Yeah, guess not," I replied. "Well, hold on to it. We may need it in the future." I looked over toward where Eliwood was standing, apparently catching his breath after fighting Damian. "Hey, Eliwood! We passed!" At those words, Hector made his way over to the docks as well.

"Aha! You made it, whelps!" laughed Fargus.

"That was... hard..." Hector panted.

Eliwood took another moment to catch his breath. "You'll give us passage now, wont' you?" he asked.

"I'm a man of the sea. I always keep my word," smiled Fargus.

"Sean!" I looked over at Lyn, who was running toward the docks as well. "Sean, is it over?"

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Thank goodness," she sighed.

"Are my old eyes lyin' to me? Is this beauty really with you?" laughed Fargus. "Gwaa ha ha ha! My lucky day!" He have me a hard pat on the back before making his way to his ship.

Lyn glared at the back of the pirate captain. This really wasn't helping her views on the situation. I was about to speak up, but Hector beat me to it.

"Listen, I know how you feel, but you have to accept it," said Hector. "We've no other choice!"

"I know that! I haven't said a word, have I?" Lyn replied with annoyance. She shot another angry glare at Fargus before walking toward Florina and the others, probably to make sure that they were okay.

"I should probably go talk to her," I said. "Eliwood, you can stay and make preparations with Fargus. Hector, gather everyone else. We leave as soon as possible."

"We can go to the Dread Isle now," sighed Eliwood. "Please, Father... be well."

"Lord Elbert is a strong man," said Hector. "I doubt that Nergal fellow knows who he's dealing with. "

"I sincerely hope you're right, Hector," said Eliwood. "I sincerely hope you're right..."

* * *

I caught up to Lyn a few minutes later. She was helping Florina and Rebecca, who were both caught by surprise in the attack. Florina's shoulder was bleeding, probably from one of the pirates' axes. Rebecca handed Lyn a vulnerary to help with the wound. As I started walking toward them, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder.

"I take it we passed the test?" asked Oswin.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I honestly wasn't thinking-"

"Yes, I agree," I heard another voice come up from behind me. It was Marcus. "Even if we did pass the test, I don't know if you were thinking at all about this plan, Sean."

"Marcus-" Oswin started, but the older knight spoke up before he could go any further.

"Why were we not informed of this test?" asked Marcus. "We thought that you were in danger!"

"We didn't have time to go find everyone," I replied. "It seriously just came out of nowhere."

"Then you should have stayed behind," said Marcus. "Near the area where we were to meet, so that you could relay the actual task to the rest of the army. By abandoning the rest of your soldiers, you put them in danger. As a tactician, you are not to make such inconsiderate judgments."

I took another look at Florina, who winced in pain as Lyn rubbed some of the vulnerary on her wound. Marcus was right, of course. It would have been better if I had stayed behind and let everyone else take the back way to the pirates. If I had done that, I could have prevented everyone from heading to the docks, and we would have passed the test without any injuries. I thought back to one of the lessons I had learned from Darius: The tactician's primary task focuses on information. In this case, passing information to the rest of the army would have prevented Florina from being wounded by a gang of pirates.

"I'm sorry," I replied. "It was a bad decision on my part."

"I am not the one you should be apologizing to," said Marcus, pointing to the pegasus knight. "We were lucky to only have a single injury, but I hope that you remember what happened today in your future decisions."

"Y-Yeah," I replied. "I will. When we execute a plan, I'll make sure everyone knows."

"Good," said Marcus. "Now, despite that, I am most grateful to have passage to Valor at long last."

"Indeed," Oswin smiled. "Sean, we will wait at the docks for the rest of the group. Please lead them all to us."

"Will do," I replied. With that, the two older knights left me there and walked to where Eliwood and Fargus were. Well, the only people I could see nearby were Lyn, Florina, and Rebecca, so I walked over to relay the information.

"How's your shoulder?" I asked.

"I-It's fine..." she whispered. "I-I'm sorry for almost ruining everything..."

"Ruining everything?" I asked. "No, no, you shouldn't apologize, Florina. It was my fault for not telling everyone what was happening. You just wandered in at a bad time. But, I'm glad to hear that you're alright."

"Y-Yes..." she replied, blushing slightly.

"We were outmatched until Mister Canas used his magic to separate everyone," said Rebecca. "Then Lord Hector came and carried Florina to safety, and once Serra healed Oswin he was able to help as well." At the mention of Hector's name, Florina fidgeted nervously. Lyn noticed this immediately.

"Oh, Florina," smiled Lyn. "Don't worry. Hector is a brash oaf, but he means well. You need not fear him."

"I-I don't..." said Florina. "A-At least... not as much... anymore..."

"He did manage to save her twice in the last few days," I told Lyn. "He was the one who caught Florina and Huey as they fell from the sky." At the mention of that incident, Florina blushed even further. Looking back, it was kind of mean of me to keep bringing up stuff that made Florina uncomfortable. I was glad, however, that the pegasus knight was able to tolerate Hector of all people. If she managed to not be frightened to death of that guy, I'm pretty sure her fear of every other man would vanish completely. I turned to the pegasus knight. "You know, Florina. You really should thank him for that. He managed to catch you and act as a cushion for your pegasus to land on. I'm sure that was painful."

"Th-Thank him?" stuttered Florina. "Y-Yes... I should thank... Lord Hector..." She slowly got up, but her blushing and nervousness were still painfully obvious.

"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Lyn.

"N-No, I'll be fine," Florina replied. "I just need to talk to Lord Hector. There's nothing to be s-scared about." She turned slowly and walked very slowly toward the docks where Hector was talking with Serra.

"Poor Florina," said Rebecca. "She's so nervous around men, and Lord Hector is a very... intimidating one."

"I'm hoping to have her overcome her fear of men," I smiled. "After all, much of our army consists of males. If she can get to the point where Hector is not so intimidating, everyone else will be easy to approach by comparison."

"That makes sense," said Rebecca.

"It would be wonderful if Florina was able to approach the men in the army as easily as you, Rebecca," said Lyn. "You seem to always keep your wits about you when talking to them."

Call it irony, but right when she said that, a certain brown-haired archer ran over to us. "Hey, Sean! I'm told that we have passage to Valor now!"

"Oh, Wil! Hey!" I replied. "Yeah, we passed the test."

"That's so good to know," smiled the archer. He then looked at Rebecca. "Oh, hello again."

"I... H-Hello..." said Rebecca. She looked at me for a second, and then looked back at Wil's smiling face. "I... I must go." The archer turned and ran toward the docks. Like I said, irony. There are apparently certain men that Rebecca has a hard time talking to as well. Then again, she did apparently tell the guy that she didn't know him, and trying to come back from saying that would be kind of difficult. I did feel sympathy for the girl, though. Heck, I say stupid things that make my situations incredibly embarassing/awkward at least twice a day.

"That was strange," said Wil. "Sean, that wasn't the Rebecca you were telling me about earlier, was it?"

"Um... you should really go talk to _her_ about it," I replied. In all honesty, that was a pretty lame way to dodge the question.

Wil raised an eyebrow. "But, she doesn't know-"

"Anyway!" I interrupted. "Marcus wants us all to meet him at the docks. We leave for Valor as soon as we've gathered everyone there."

"Oh... alright," said Wil. From the look on his face, I could tell he was still unsatisfied with my answer (or rather, lack thereof), but decided against pressing the issue further. The archer merely nodded and made his way to the docks to meet up with Marcus.

I glanced at Lyn, who stared at the area that everyone was gathering with a contemplative look. The contemptlative look turned to a half-glare once Dart showed up alongside Bartre and Dorcas. I sighed. As much as I understood about her opinion of bandits (and by extension, pirates), I had to completely agree with Hector on this one. All of us promised Eliwood we would help him find his father, and the only way to press on was to work with Fargus and his pirates. I supposed that all I needed to do was explain this to her.

"Lyn, I know wh-"

"I know what you want to tell me, Sean," she interrupted. "I promised to help Eliwood find his father, and the only way to press on is to work with Fargus and his pirates."

I blinked a couple of times. "Um... Yeah, that was it. Pretty much word-for-word."

"I know you quite well," she smiled slightly, but then frowned. "What frustrates me is that, while I know this, it is still very difficult for me to accept. You know what bandits did to my loved ones, Sean. What they did to my entire tribe. And they attacked while we were defenseless, weakened to the point where something as simple as standing became so difficult. Monsters. They were all monsters."

"Lyn, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through," I told her. "But, that was back in Sacae. Fargus and his crew-"

"-have nothing to do with them," she finished for me. "Again, I know this, but it is too difficult for me to accept." She took out the locket that I returned to her that night on the balcony. "I just can't accept that I would need to ask for their help."

"You've gone through an incredibly traumatic experience, Lyn," I told her. "You can pretty much see a little bit of the Taliver in any outlaws, from land or from sea. Am I right?"

She nodded slightly.

"And now, being dependent upon that kind of people scares you," I reasoned. "To be in their mercy, so to speak, scares you more than having to fight a hundred of them."

"You... know me very well," she whispered.

"I have my moments," I smiled. "Like you said, Lyn, we all promised to help Eliwood. You yourself said that losing a parent is not something you wished upon him. If we don't go with Fargus, we may end up putting him through that same traumatic experience. And I know that you don't want to do that." I took a breath and continued. "Lyn, I know you. You're incredibly strong for moving on after what the Taliver did. You had such a painfully vivid memory of that night, based on what you've told me. And you simply pushed through with a smile. I also know that you care very much about your friends. I really believe if anyone can push past some personal grudges to help a friend in need, it's you."

Lyn stared at me, seemingly taking in what I had told her. A small smile appeared on her face after a few seconds. "Sean, you've really grown in the last year," she whispered. She moved next up to me and, well, hugged me. "Thank you."

"Buh... I-I-I mean... y-you're welcome..." Yep, all of my smooth eloquence transforms into babbling right after I find myself in the arms of a beautiful girl. Typical me...

"You're right, Sean," Lyn continued, pulling back and letting me regain some of my composure. "I was being selfish. As much as it pains me to depend on outlaws, Eliwood needs us. I will do what I can to help."

"I guess that's all we can ask for," I replied. "Also... I'm around if you really want someone to talk to. I-I'm sure my random flashes of insight can come up again."

Lyn simply responded to that with a smile.

* * *

_A/N: End chapter! Not as long as the Caelin chapters, but oh well._

_Okay, like I said before, the reason this took so long was because I had writer's block, and I was considering skipping this chapter entirely. Several things prevented me from doing this, and forcing me to come up with some ways to fill the chapter. Which I previously mentioned was like a filler chapter. So I was filling a filler. Kind of like I do in my Author notes..._

_The first reason I couldn't skip this chapter was because Canas was introduced. The only dark magic user in the game, who can take a Luna tome and tell the final boss to shove it, is introduced here. It would've been a shame to not include him in the story, especially since he's something of a fan favorite, and not having a proper introduction for him wouldn't do the guy justice. Of course, he did kind of disappear in the middle of the chapter, so..._

_Second, introducing Fargus, the pirates, and Anna. Fargus was pretty much the NPC you interact with the most in the game. He makes you run around Badon to reach him, and then gives you a free ride to Valor. What a great guy. Plus, you can never have enough boisterous muscular old guys in a story, right? Seeing as the group is going to count on him to take them to and from the Dread Isle, we should at least give the guy a proper introduction as well. And Anna is pretty much the mascot of Fire Emblem, so it wouldn't be right not to include her. I think the scene at the tavern did a pretty good job of introducing everyone. Plus, it let Sean get into another one of his horrible karma moments that he's starting to actually classify now. I can be so mean to my original characters._

_Third, and most importantly, the chance for emotional development. As you probably know, this chapter is the last chapter in a long time that is not very relevent to the story. From here on, we go deep into the motivations of Nergal and the Black Fang, and the story becomes considerably darker. It would be really hard to start developing happier emotions during that time, and since I wanted to have some pairings outside of Sean/Lyn... well, you get the picture. Of course, I took the chance to develop their relationship even further. As for the other pairings, well... they were just kind of crammed in there, weren't they? Hm..._

_Oh, and yeah, I totally screwed up in the first chapter by having Wil write home and Rebecca knowing about him. Now that whole support conversation makes no sense. Oops. I hope my attempt to remedy the situation actually makes sense, otherwise I'm just digging myself deeper. Really hope I didn't leave more plot holes lying around._

_Anyway, that's enough of a rant. Please review!_


	9. Chapter 7: Pirate Ship

_A/N: Merry Christmas!__ Well, it would have been if I managed to get this out on Christmas as planned, but I still needed to put some finishing touches on it. Still, it's once again been seven freaking months since I last updated, and I'm really, really sorry that I haven't been very quick with updating this story. A lot of things came up in my life that simply took priority over writing fanfiction. Hopefully, that hasn't decreased the quality of this chapter, but that is, of course, for the reader to decide. Enjoy!_

**Trials of a Teenage Tactician: Minds of Legend**

Chapter 7: Pirate Ship

"HURRRRRRRRRRRR!"

"Sean, you really are a landlubber, aren't you?" laughed the young pirate standing next to me.

"HURRRRRRRRRRRR!"

In case it's unclear, I apparently get seasick really easily.

We were sailing on the Davros with Fargus's crew to the Dread Isle. It had been about three days since Fargus's test at Badon. Most everyone was either below deck or in their cabins. As for me, I was on the port side of the ship hurling the contents of my lunch into the sea. The laughing pirate was Dart. He was the one who befriended Bartre in the arena and took out Damian, and the one that told us about Fargus's test. The muscular sailor patted me on the back, which prompted me to vomit over the edge again.

"Damn it, Dart, don't do that," I coughed after I was finished.

"I'm surprised you had anything left to hurl," smiled the pirate. "The way you've been going, it's like our entire galley went overboard."

"Thanks..." I muttered. "Ugh... I can't believe we went through that stupid test for this..."

"Your mates seem fine," chuckled Dart. "They got their sea legs soon as we left. Surprised you haven't."

"Yeah... go figure," I sighed. I tried focusing out at the horizon, but my sense of balance was completely off because of the swaying of the ship. Nothing seemed to help my nausea.

Why did the Black Fang have to put their base on a freaking island?

"Ahoy!" I heard someone from behind me call. I turned to see another one of Fargus's crew members. He had reddish-brown hair and a square jaw, and wore a red tunic, black pants, and leather boots. He made his way over to where we were standing, and I noticed he was carrying a mug of something.

"Oy, Jake, what've you brought this time?" asked Dart.

"My mother's homemade remedy for seasickness," said Jake. "I thought you might want some."

Right as he finished saying that, I felt my head start to spin again. Once the nausea hit me, I had my answer.

"Give it to me."

Jake handed me the mug, and I took a sniff. I immediately gagged at the pungent odor.

"Wow, that's... potent," I coughed.

Dart moved closer, and then immediately pulled back. "Blimey, Jake! You want him to drink that?"

"It's not a pleasant odor, but believe me, it will do the job," said Jake. He looked at me. "Please drink it."

I sighed. Of course this was the only choice I had. I closed my eyes, plugged my nose, and downed the contents. For a few moments, I felt no change apart from a really horrid aftertaste that I'd rather not describe, but almost made me throw up again. However, it wasn't long before some of the dizziness seemed to die down. I still felt kind of nauseous, but it was much improved. I could actually make a coherent thought.

"Thanks," I said, wiping some drops of the cure from my lip. "Wow, that stuff really works. What's in that?"

"That's a secret," he smiled in response. "But, I will be happy to make more if you need it."

"Th-That won't be necessary..." I replied. I seriously didn't want to drink that stuff ever again. It worked well enough, but man, that taste was nasty. "You said your name was Jake, right?"

"Yes," he answered. "I'm new to the Davros's crew. I've only been with them for a few months."

"You wouldn't happen to be Anna's Jake, would you?" I asked.

"Huh? You heard about me from Anna?" he asked.

"Yeah," I smiled. "She told us to tell you that she was worried about you."

"Did she now?" he smiled. "That warms my heart, my friend."

"Ha! You're a lucky man, mate," chuckled Dart, patting Jake on the back. "Waiting and worrying about her man for so long. There aren't too many women like that these days, eh?"

I smiled a little at that. I thought back to the year before, on that hill in Caelin. I remembered Lyn giving me her locket, telling me to return it to her when I went back. And she did wait for me for that whole year, even though there was the possibility that I wouldn't be able to return to her. She waited for me, even though there were plenty of men who wanted her hand. I had to admit, I felt incredibly lucky that we were still together after what Dart said.

Though, that led me to another question.

"So Jake, why did you join Fargus if a girl like Anna is waiting for you in Badon?" I asked.

The maroon-haired young pirate smiled a bit, and had a pink tinge on his face. "I come from a poor family," he said. "Anna and I, we've known each other since we were children. We would always play pirates on the streets of Badon, and adventuring together. I love traveling, and so does Anna. When I had the chance to join Fargus's crew, I was so excited. But, a pirate ship is no place for a girl like Anna. But, she insisted that I go with him, to fulfill both our dreams. The Captain told me that I can make some money by sailing with him. I'm... hoping that one day, I can make enough money to buy my own ship. And then, the two of us will be married, and travel the world together. To make those childhood fantasies real..." He smirked a little. "It seems silly, doesn't it?"

"I really can't support piracy, but your dream doesn't sound silly at all," I smiled. "It never hurts to have a goal in mind. What you and Anna have is really special. And it will be much more so when you've reached that goal, and you two can live out your dreams together. I'm sure that Anna will work hard for you as well. She's doing pretty well as a barmaid. I really hope the two of you will be happy."

"I as well, my friend," smiled Jake. "I as well."

I turned to Dart. "What about you, Dart? Anyone special waiting for you?"

"Nah, not that I can remember," chuckled Dart. "I... I don't really remember anything past five years ago. When the Captain found me washed up on the shores of Badon, I had not even a name."

"Amnesia?" I asked.

"Most likely," he replied.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," I said. I immediately felt bad for asking about the guy's past when he didn't even have one. With all our talk about childhood dreams, Dart must've felt completely left out, since he didn't even have a childhood.

"Bah, no need for apologies, mate," chuckled the pirate. "I love adventuring with the crew of the Davros, and the Captain is like a father to me. You two may be satisfied with settlin' down with a good woman, but for me, adventuring is everything I've ever wanted. My past... I hope I find it one day. But, for the now, I'm perfectly happy with my freedom. I will gladly stay with the Captain until I know who I am, and long after."

"Well said, Dart," laughed Jake. "The Davros is lucky to have a man like you aboard."

"And don't let anyone tell you otherwise," laughed Dart. He looked out to ocean. "But really, look at that. Past or none, I don't think I could ever give that up."

We all looked out at the calm sea as the Davros slowly cut through the waves. There was a moment's pause when the three of us simply stood there quietly. There was nothing but the cool sea breeze and the waves gently lapping against the hull to interrupt the silence. Dart made his point. He loved the sea, and the ship, and unlike me, it never made him sick. It was like home to him.

The moment's pause was interrupted when we heard the sound of wood knocking against the hull. We looked over and saw a small boat with the figure of a person lying down inside.

"What?" asked Jake. "What's a boat doing all the way out here?"

"Captain!" Dart shouted. "There's a dory adrift to port! It looks like there's someone aboard. What're your orders?"

I looked toward the rear of the ship, where Captain Fargus and our favorite red-haired lord were apparently talking. The two of them walked over to where we were standing. Fargus stared at the small boat for a second before answering.

"Bring 'em aboard," he commanded.

"Oy, Jake, help me pull it up," said Dart, grabbing a nearby hook with a rope attached. Before I could ask what he was doing, the amnesic pirate dove into the water with the rope, which I could see was connected to a pulley system.

"Dart!" I shouted. I then saw the bandana-clad man resurface and swim over to the small boat. He attached the hook to a ring on the front of the boat, and as soon as he did that, I saw Jake toss a second hook to him. Dart grabbed it and attached it to the back of the boat before getting in. Jake and another crewmember started pulling on one of the ropes, using the pulley system to lift the small boat out of the water.

"Wow, that's what I call teamwork," I smiled. "No wonder that test required us to watch out for each other."

"Looks like we've got a visitor," said Fargus. "Odd though, finding a boat adrift near here..."

Eliwood looked at the captain. "Odd? Why is that?"

"The sea currents in this area... Anything drifting around here must've come from the Dread Isle," said Fargus. I immediately felt the color drain from my face as soon as he said that. This boat came from Valor... It came from the Black Fang...

"Oh..." Eliwood said quietly. I could tell that he had the same conclusion.

"Shall we greet our guest?" asked Fargus. The captain made his way to where the boat would be dropped. Just then, I saw Lyn and Hector come down from the ship's bow. Hector walked over to Eliwood, and Lyn made her way over to me.

"Sean, what's happening?" asked Lyn.

"We found a small boat off the side of the ship," I told her. "There's someone inside. They're pulling the boat up as we speak."

"I see," said Lyn. We watched as the dory was lifted over the deck, and Dart jumped off, soaking wet. Another crewmember tossed him a dry shirt that looked identical to the wet one, which the pirate gladly switched to. I saw Lyn turn away as he took his previous shirt off, revealing his scarred but incredibly toned build. And I immediately looked at my own scrawny body and sighed heavily.

The small boat was lowered slowly and hit the deck with a small thud.

"Hey, you two! Come here! They've pulled the dory aboard!" Lyn shouted at the two male lords, who were whispering something to each other. They immediately looked over at us. "I wonder who's on board," she said. Dart walked over to the boat and started pulling a figure out. I could make out long hair, a small face, a bit of... chest...

"It's... It's a girl!" Lyn and I exclaimed at the same time.

Dart grunted as he tried to lift her by her shoulder. He looked at Lyn. "Oy! You there!"

"Me?" asked Lyn.

"Give me a hand, will you?" he asked. "I don't know where to... grab her." I swear, there was a bit of pink on his cheeks as he said that.

Lyn blinked a couple of times before responding. "Okay," she replied.

"Such the gentleman," chuckled Hector.

"Stow it!" shouted Dart. The pirate moved aside as Lyn took the girl by the underarms. As she got a look at her face, the swordswoman's eyes widened.

"Hm? Ninian!" she gasped. My ears perked up at this. Ninian? The dancer Ninian who traveled with us the year before? The Ninian that Darius and the Black Fang were after? I immediately ran over as Lyn picked the unconscious pale blue-haired girl up and gently lay her down on the deck. "Ninian! Wake up!" said Lyn.

I knelt down next to the sleeping dancer. I could hear her breathing slightly, so she was most definitely alive. But my thoughts were going into overdrive. Fargus said that the boat must have come from Valor, where the Black Fang was stationed. The Black Fang was after her and her brother last year. She must have escaped, but I also knew that even if she managed to elude them, she would never leave her brother behind. Where was he?

"Unbelievable... What are the chances?" whispered Eliwood.

"Do you know her?" asked Hector.

Eliwood nodded. "She's how Lyndis and I met a year back. I rescued Ninian from a band of villains."

"Please, Ninian! Open your eyes!" pleaded Lyn, gently shaking the dancer by her bare shoulders.

"Ah..." I saw Ninian's eyes slowly blink open.

"Ninian, can you hear me?" asked Lyn.

Ninian groaned, putting her hand on her forehead. "Unnn... I..."

"Are you well?" asked Lyn. "Why were you on that boat? Where is Nils? Why wasn't he with you?"

"Ah... ah..." groaned the dancer, attempting to sit up. She immediately lost her strength and fell down again, and Lyn was quick to catch her.

"Ninian?" whispered Lyn.

"Lyndis, something's wrong with her," said Eliwood, kneeling down next her. The girl looked at the lord with an almost blank stare.

"Who... Who..." she said quietly.

"She wouldn't recognize you," I told him. "Last year, she was unconscious when you saved her." I looked at the dancer, and her eyes slowly closed again. Her breathing eased to a slower tempo, and her body relaxed into Lyn's arms. "Ninian... what did they do to you?"

"Sean," Lyn whispered. "Last year, when we met Ninian and Nils-"

"Captain!" Dart's shout interrupted what Lyn was about to say. "Pirate ships approaching from the northwest!" Eliwood, Hector, and I immediately got up and moved to where Dart was standing. Sure enough, two other ships, about the same size as ours, were rapidly approaching our location.

"Do they dare attack Captain Fargus and the Davros?" asked Fargus. "They must be mad!"

"What flag are they flying?" asked Dart, looking closer at the ship. "I've never seen that pattern before." I took a look as well, but couldn't really make it out from that distance. Dart must've had really good eyesight.

"These seas belong to us! Whoever they are, they're in our waters!" shouted Fargus. He looked at Eliwood and Hector. "This is a day for strange occurences, it seems. You whelps watch you own hides. We've no time to waste on you!"

"I wouldn't ask for your protection anyway," I heard Lyn mumble. I looked at her, and she was shooting an annoyed glare at the pirate captain. She was apparently still against the idea that we were being dependent on pirates, but her sense of reason still remembered what I told her in Badon. Still, it would be incredibly difficult for her to put her trust in them unless something drastic happened.

Something drastic happened.

The two other ships gained quickly as Dart went below to gather some reinforcements. The Davros was a good, sturdy ship, but it could not outrun these two others that rapidly pulled up to both sides. This was it. We were going to be surrounded.

"Crap..." I muttered.

"Well, laddie, looks like we've got a fight on our hands," said Fargus, brandishing a very large axe. "You whelps put up a good fight at the docks, but now you're gonna see how this ol' sea dog handles his blade."

Right then, we heard a loud crash from below deck, and the boat began to shake violently. A few seconds later, we heard a scream coming from one of the sailors below.

"Water! The hull's been breached! We're taking on water!"

"Breached?" growled Fargus. "Those scum are more dangerous than I'd thought!"

Dart ran up to the deck. "It's bad, Captain! We need all hands belowdecks, or we'll sink!"

"Take care of it!" commanded Fargus. "I'm going to carve these scallywags some new gizzards!"

"We need your help!" another sailor shouted from below. "The water's up to the galley! You must come below, Captain!"

"Grrr..." growled the sea captain.

"Fargus!" said Eliwood as he unsheathed his rapier. "Leave the enemy to us!"

"Fighting is something we're good at!" said Hector. "But a sinking ship? That's your affair! You have to do something, or we'll all drown!"

"You whelps think you can command me?" said Fargus. "Listen here-"

"We'll deal with things up here," Lyn interrupted, lifting Ninian into her arms. "Please! Hurry!"

Fargus paused for a second and stared at the girl. It must have been that this was the first time Lyn had ever requested something from him. For this drastic incident, she was actually putting some faith in the pirates. "Fine!" shouted the captain. "The deck is yours! I'll be back as soon as we've plugged the breach in the hull!"

"Bring the rest of our group up here as well," I told Fargus. "We're going to need everyone's help."

"Of course, lad," smirked Fargus. "You whelps just keep 'em busy until ol' Fargus can-"

"Go!" commanded Eliwood, interrupting the captain. Fargus and Dart quickly ran down the stairs to the decks below as the sway of the ship increased dramatically. All of us did everything we could to keep standing. Lyn was about to fall over with Ninian in her arms, but Eliwood was able to catch her.

"Lyn! Take her to that room!" he told her as she was regaining her footing.

"I will," nodded Lyn, carrying the girl to a nearby cabin.

"Alright, Sean," Eliwood said as he faced me. "Have you ever planned out a strategy for naval combat before?"

"First time for everything," I replied. "I'll manage something. For now, we need everyone on deck."

I spoke with as much confidence as I could muster, hoping that Eliwood wouldn't see how I was really feeling at that point. Was I confident? No, not even close. Naval combat was never really something that we were taught at the Academy. Since pretty much every country in Elibe was connected by land, the actual need for naval warfare was minimal. Plus, I'm fairly certain the teachers themselves weren't very clear on what would go into naval strategies.

There's also the fact that, before this, I had never even been on a boat. I had only the last day or so in order think about what differences there would be between fighting on land and fighting at sea. Some basic combat strategies would probably be similar, but overall, fighting on the deck of the ship was going to be different from fighting on land. Things like a restricted space for combat, inherently unstable terrain, and a literal sinking feeling would need to be factored into any strategy for the battle.

For a moment, I hoped that these pirates practiced the code of parley.

* * *

The two opposing ships managed to catch up to us and almost surrounded the Davros on the port and starboard sides. The rocking of the sinking pirate ship was further becoming a nuisance, and this was noticable when watched everyone stumble. I watched the ships edge closer when Kent approached me after coming up from the lower deck.

"Kent, any news from below?" I asked the red armored knight. Both of us were near the stern, along with Marcus.

"Oswin, Lowen, and Dorcas are standing guard," said Kent. "If anyone pushes through us to get to the crew, they will be ready to fight."

"What about Hannah and Merlinus?"

"Safe," he told me. "They are in the same cabin as Ninian. Sain will guard the entrance."

"Such the gentleman," I smiled.

Kent made a small chuckle.

"Sir Kent, may I suggest that you join Sir Sain?" asked Marcus. "It will be wise to guard the second cabin as well, so we do not attract attention to the one with the young lady."

"Good idea, Sir Marcus," said Kent. "I will join him shortly."

"Okay, looks like Rebecca is in position above the cabins," I noted. "And Wil is sitting comfortably in the crow's nest. They have the high ground where they are, so we should be at a good advantage with our archers. Marcus, I suggest you make your way belowdecks. You are still in no shape to fight."

"Of course," he replied, getting up to go downstairs. "Good luck, my friend."

"We'll see you after this problem is dealt with," I smiled. With that said, Marcus made his way down the stairs.

"I will get in position," said Kent.

"Good luck, Kent," I smiled. The red knight nodded and made his way toward the cabins.

I walked to the port side of the ship, where one of the enemy ships was edging closer. Eliwood and Hector were at the very edge, followed closely by Lucius, Erk, Canas, Serra, and Florina.

"Alright, what's the deal with that ship?" I asked Hector.

"It looks like the old hag's rambling was correct," the burly lord replied. "That blasted ship is full of the Black Fang shamans that we saw in Caelin."

Eliwood looked over to the starboard side, where Lyn, Raven, Guy, Priscilla, Bartre, and Matthew were standing. The second enemy ship was fast approaching them as well. "Lyndis!" he called. "What do you see from the other ship?"

"Swordsmen," Lyn replied, staring at the approaching ship. "A large number of swordsmen."

"Well, Hannah's prediction was accurate after all," smiled Canas. "Her gift truly is remarkable."

"Indeed," I replied.

"Sean, what exactly is our battle plan?" asked Matthew. "The enemy is nearly upon us!"

"Right. Okay, everyone, listen up!" I shouted. "I talked to Fargus and learned a bit about ship combat. They're going to attempt to board our ship by first securing themselves to us using grappling hooks so we cannot flee anymore. Then, they'll probably set up long planks to act as bridges between them and us. They'll be climbing acros those planks to reach us."

"So, we push the planks off before they reach us," said Hector. "Seems simple enough."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I told him. "It will probably be best if we let them try to cross."

"What?" asked Raven, incredulously. "What sort of plan is that? We allow the enemy to close in on us?"

"Thanks for the skepticism, Raven, but I've got reasons for this," I smiled. "First, the planks themselves will be incredibly heavy so they are not pushed over easily. Instead of trying to move them, it will actually be more advantageous to fight where we stand. The planks themselves will not be very wide, so the fights will pretty much be reduced to one-on-one."

"So, that's why you have me and Hector to fight the shamans," Eliwood realized. "We will have an easier time with barring their entrance to the ship, allowing Lucius, Canas, and Florina to attack from a safe range."

"Precisely," I smiled. "Now, you can also argue that we'll be preventing them from fighting at all if we manage to knock over the planks. However, the Black Fang are a persistent bunch. They will not rest until we hand over Ninian, and will keep coming after us. They even managed to damage the ship when they were some distance away, and I'm betting they can do it again. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have Fargus and the others working on keeping us above water for so long."

"So you believe it will be best if we take them all out," said Canas.

"What I don't understand is why they need to board at all," said Lucius. "Would it not be best to sink us?"

"They are after Ninian," replied Lyn. "For some reason, they want her alive. That is the only reason we are all still afloat right now. The damage to the ship was simply to slow us down so they could board and capture her."

"And we must not allow that to happen," said Eliwood.

"Right, and to do that, we must not let them board," I said. "However, the way to do this is to let them try to come to our ship. Then, we fight. They will keep attempting to cross over to get to Ninian, no matter the cost. This is the Black Fang, and to them, failure means death." Everyone who was with us during the raid in the Black Fang's stronghold in Kathelet cringed, remembering the man who would rather down poison than be interrogated by us. "If we can hold out long enough, they will be severely lacking in forces, and then, we move onto their ships and finish the job."

"Well said," smiled Hector.

"Indeed," said Eliwood. "Everyone, get in position! Their target is Ninian! We must protect her!"

* * *

The two Black Fang ships pulled to both sides, and the grappling hooks were thrown over, catching the various ropes and walls of the ship. The two ships weren't going to leave our sides until we killed every last one of the Black Fang assassins. Soon, I saw the two crews lift their large plank-bridges, and watched the long wooden pieces fall in our directions. Everyone stepped back, allowing them room to land on the deck.

"Grab the girl!" I heard one of the shamans shout. "Kill everyone else!"

The battle began with the assassins closing in on both sides. Eliwood's group readied themselves against the approaching shamans, who were each chanting spells as they crossed their makeshift bridge to the Davros. As they reached the middle, the one in front cast his orb of dark magic. It sunk into the wood of the plank, and only a glimpse of a shadow was seen as it reappeared in the middle of the group and exploded, knocking everyone over. The shamans took the chance to rush onto our ship.

Or rather, they would have rushed on if Lucius and Canas hadn't prepared their countermeasures. While getting up, the two magic-wielders cast their spells together, sending one shaman flying into another, knocking both off the plank. The spell stopped the rush for enough time for everyone in the group to regain their footing. As the next assassin stepped onto the deck, Eliwood stabbed him in the chest with his sword and pushed him overboard before he even had a chance to scream.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed. "Keep doing it like that, guys!"

Meanwhile, the swordsmen and mercenaries were approaching quickly against the starboard group. Lyn, Raven, and Matthew took the lead, matching blade with blade against the first three to set foot on the deck. Raven was strong enough to overpower his opponent, eventually knocking him into Matthew's. The thief took the moment of surprise to slash the throat of his opponent, and kicked both overboard. Lyn, on the other hand, used her natural Sacaean agility to swiftly dodge her opponent's blade, and stabbed him in the stomach with her Mani Katti. She then proceeded to use her foot to force him off of her blade, and into the sea.

And then Guy put his head over the side and hurled like I did earlier.

"You okay, Guy?" I asked.

"Ohhh... I'm going to be sick," the Sacaean grumbled. "Doesn't this bother you, Sean? This ship moves too much..."

"Yeah, being attacked and having the hull breached isn't really helping things," I told him. "Look, maybe you should sit this one out..."

"I... I can still fight, though," Guy protested. "My sword arm's fine!"

"Sean! Behind you!" I heard Rebecca shout. I turned to see a burly, bald man brandishing a large axe and horrible hygiene smile creepily at me. I should emphasize the large axe because I noticed that way more than the fact that he was missing some of his dark brown dentures. His smile quickly faded when Rebecca fired an arrow into his back, and he began to fall forward... on the tip of Guy's blade. The young swordsman twisted his sword, and pulled it out of the large man's stomach, and pushed him overboard.

"As fine as ever," smiled Guy.

"Something's not right," I muttered to myself. "How did he get behind us?"

"Back! Back you fiends!"

I turned to see Sain fending off two swordsmen with his lance. He soon managed to stab one in the chest and ran him against the wall. As the other made his move, Kent leapt in and shoved his lance into the opposing swordsman's stomach. As soon as the coast was clear, Guy and I ran to the upper deck to join them.

"Are you two okay?" I asked.

"Never better," said Sain. "The cabins are still well-protected."

"How are these guys getting behind us?" asked Guy. "We have the bridges guarded."

His question was answered as we heard shouting from the starboard side. Two more mercenaries were swinging on the ropes of their ships, crossing the gap between them and the Davros. They landed right next to me.

"Well... fuck..." I sighed as they drew their weapons. Kent and Sain immediately charged at them with their lances, which the two mercenaries blocked with their axes. Guy jumped in with his sword and began fighting one of them. Sain managed to take the moment to draw his sword and started to fight the other one.

"We can handle things here," said Kent, drawing his sword as well. "Sean, you should head belowdecks where it's safe."

"R-Right," I replied. I ran down the port side steps back to the lower deck, where Eliwood's group was holding back the incoming shamans. As soon as my feet hit the lower deck, I heard a scream coming from the crow's nest. I looked up to see our archer hanging for dear life on the side of the mast, as a cloaked figure approached him while balancing on the wooden beam.

"Wil!" I shouted. "Crap, if he falls..." I looked at our resident flyer, who had just knocked one of the shamans into the water. And now, in retrospect, what I requested from her was pretty unnecessary.

"Florina! I need you to fly me to Wil!"

The lavender-haired girl turned to me and wasted no time helping me onto Huey, and we took off toward the shaman, who was casting a spell. It only took a few seconds for us to reach the same level as the shaman, and Florina readied a javelin to throw.

And then we turned to see another pegasus knight charge toward us.

"Wha-?" was all I managed to say before I got knocked off of Huey by the opposing flying animal.

"Sean!" Florina cried, catching my left hand as I began to fall. Huey snorted as he suddenly felt the weight on his back much less equally distributed. I could only dangle there helplessly as Florina struggled to pull me up while still holding onto her pegasus. Meanwhile, the shaman finished his spell and a dark energy orb slammed into Wil, who got knocked off of the mast head and started tumbling toward the lower deck. As it happens, I was dangling just within his fall trajectory, and I managed to grab his arm with my free hand. However, this just made things much worse for the poor pegasus that was keeping us all in the air.

"Sean... I-I can't..." Florina whimpered.

"Florina, if you don't let us go, you'll fall as well!" shouted Wil.

"But... But..." Florina tried to interject, when she suddenly got slammed into by the pegasus knight. Her grip immediately loosened, and Wil and I began falling toward the lower deck, my grip on him naturally loosening as well. I instinctively grabbed the nearest rope and began skidding down it. The friction of the rope combined with my grip and fall caused my palms to burn as I slid toward the ground, attempting to stop my descent. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough before I literally reached the end of the rope, leaving me to fall the rest of the distance onto the deck below.

I did manage to slow my descent enough to land on my back without serious injury, but not enough to avoid pain.

"Owww..." I muttered, putting my hand on the ground to push myself up. Bad idea.

"Ow!" I winced as my rope-burned palm had pressure put on it. "Fuck this stupid ship! Jeez!" I opened my eyes, and saw a dark-robed figure towering over my body. I managed to to prop myself up slightly to see the rest of the ship, which had a whole bunch of other people in similar robes all over the place. It took me a second to realize what just happened.

The rope I grabbed was attached to the wrong ship.

"Oh, shit..." I muttered.

"That cloak..." the robed man above me said quietly. I looked up at him, managing to make out a couple of his facial details. His eyes were obscured from view, but he had a thin jawline and a brown goatee. "Yes, I have knowledge of you."

"Wh-What?" I asked.

"You are with the group that opposed Heintz and Beyard one year ago," he said. "You are Sean, disciple of Lord Darius."

"You... you know about me?" I asked.

"I know that you are once again opposing the Black Fang," said the robed man, who pulled out a large dark tome. "You are once again an obstacle in our mission to obtain the girl. Know now that Zoldam will forever be your executioner." He began chanting a few words, and six balls of dark energy started forming above his head. I attempted to get up, but my rope-burned hands made it very difficult. Zoldam stopped chanting for a couple of seconds, allowing the dark orbs circle around me for a bit.

"Luna," he whispered, and the dark energy flew toward me. I managed to roll just barely out of the way of the attack, but it was so powerful that it blew me away from him. I took the chance to push myself onto my feet, ignoring the pain in my palms, and began running.

"Stop him!" shouted Zoldam. The group of shamans that were crossing the bridge to the Davros turned to took at me. I managed to look past them all, though, and saw Eliwood, who was clearly confused as to why I was on an enemy ship. Thinking quickly, I turned toward the shamans, and put my hastily thrown together plan into action.

"Look at me, I'm a target!" I shouted, and began running again. As expected, several of the shamans began to follow me, while the others were distracted enough for our group to start pushing into.

I ran toward the stern of the ship and hid behind the wooden mast there to catch my breath. It was a very short breath, as I noticed several round shadows converge on me. I looked up to see what was casting them, but saw nothing. And then dark energy starting coming out of them. I quickly dove out of the way, the shaman attacks only barely missing me.

I looked to see a grand total of six shamans approaching from the steps on both the port and starboard sides of the ship. They were all chanting in unison, clearly readying another wave of attacks. It wasn't long before they surrounded me, I had nowhere to run, and backed up against the mast beam. The dark energy that formed from their chanting all channeled into a single large orb, and then shot at me at high speed.

And I ducked.

_**CRACK!**_

The powerful wave of magic flew over my head and slammed into the wodden mast, splintering a large chunk of it. With the foundation unable to support the tall, heavy sails, the mast began toppling over. Thankfully, it wasn't toward the Davros, and the mast crashed relatively harmlessly into the ocean.

I say 'relatively harmlessly', because it did manage to shake the boat violently. The rocking was violent enough that the shamans and I all fell over from the shock, with me landing on my palms. Which were still burned from the rope.

I'll skip over the list of profanities I screamed due to the pain.

"You will regret this, boy..." growled one of the shamans, attempting to get up.

"Hey, it was _your_ attack," I replied, using my fists to prop myself up. "Not my fault you're a lousy shot."

"You may have damaged our ship, but do not delude yourself into believing that this is finished," said another shaman. "Lord Nergal will have the girl. The Black Fang never fails."

"First time for everything," I said, managing to pick myself off the ground and stand slightly. It was still difficult due to the violent rocking.

A third shaman spoke up. "Disciple of Lord Darius, you have been warned. The Black Fang will prevail. You may still surrender the girl, and you will live to see the morning."

"That's not an option," I said. "Ninian stays with us."

"Then you are not as wise as Lord Darius has said," the shaman replied. "Be warned, Tactician. Lord Nergal knows of your involvement in Lycia. He knows of your mind. And his bidding is to destroy you."

"Yeah, you've been doing a great job, guys," I smirked. "Seriously, I've just been standing here talking after you broke your boat. None of you even took the chance to attack... me..." I trailed off as I looked at my feet. My shadow was surprisingly much darker, which made sense. Adding a second shadow made by dark energy would probably do that. The energy materialized into an orb, and shot at my chest, blowing me far back onto the main deck. It felt like someone launched a rock at me at high speeds. I rolled on the ground in pain.

In case you didn't get what just happened, I was a bit too occupied with making snarky comments at the enemy to realize that one shaman was preparing an attack.

On a somewhat brighter note, I think the part of my brain that controls how I feel pain was focusing more on the part of my chest that was hit with that attack than my ropeburn, so it was just a bit easier to push myself off the ground again. Still, it hurt like hell.

I looked to see that the shamans were quickly approaching again, and I got up to run.

And then the nausea hit me.

"Crap... not now..." I muttered, my brain trying to fight the suddenly returned seasickness. Worst possible moment for something like this to happen. I stumbled toward the railing on the side of the boat to hold myself up. This was it, I had no way out of this. The shamans quickly converged on me, and I couldn't run even if I wanted to. And boy, I wanted to.

"Perish, Tactician," whispered one of the shamans as another attack was being prepared. I closed my eyes and braced for impact.

"Did you forget about us?"

I looked up to see Hector slam one of the shamans with his shoulder, and then beheaded another with his Wolf Beil. And I promptly took the chance to throw up over the edge.

"Sean, are you alright?" asked Eliwood, pulling his rapier blade out from another shaman.

"Yeah... alive at least," I replied. I looked to see one of the shamans preparing another spell... until he got hit with a second dark magic attack that made his eyes roll into its sockets and fall over.

"That is good to know," said Canas, who put his hand down from the attack he had just made. "You are surprisingly resilient against our elder magic, Sean. I saw that Flux spell make a direct hit."

"Maybe I'm not dead, but it still hurts like hell," I told him, still clutching my chest. I looked up to see another of the shamans prepare another spell, and was promptly shot with an arrow from our favorite brown-haired archer.

"Wil!" I called. "You're okay!"

"Yes," he smiled. "Lord Hector was kind enough to break my fall!"

The look on Hector's face was priceless, as was that smirk that Eliwood made.

It wasn't long before we had killed all of the attacking shamans and won the ship. I was relieved that I didn't need to deal with being on an enemy ship where everyone was trying to kill me anymore.

The boat stopped rocking, and my nausea started going away for a bit. Everyone made their way back to the Davros over the plank bridge to help Lyn and the others against the remaining swordsmen, and I followed, ready for this fight to be over.

"Luna."

I stopped in the middle of the bridge when I heard that word. Before I could react, six dark orbs flew into me at high speed, and made contact. I felt for a moment that all of my body heat had left me, and I lost all function in my arms. I only could take a brief glance behind me, and saw Zoldam with his large dark tome. I had completely forgotten about him in the few minutes I had spent running from the other shamans.

"S-Stupid..." was the last thing that came out of my mouth before I lost all feeling in my legs and toppled over into the sea. I could barely make out Eliwood screaming my name, and Hector charging at Zoldam. The shaman didn't stand a chance, but it didn't matter anymore. "I'm done for..." was the only thought in my mind as my body hit the waves beneath the Davros. I don't know how long it took before I blacked out completely, but I do remember that sinking feeling, in both a literal and figurative sense.

That feeling that I was going to die.

* * *

_"... What the hell?"_

That was the first thing that came out of my mouth as I found myself in the dimly lit corridor. The walls were made with green stones, and I could smell the mildew that seemed like it was building up for years. How I got there after presumably sinking to the bottom of the sea, I had no idea, but standing in the middle of the corridor wasn't going to give me any answers.

I made my way through the stone hallway, looking to see if there was any way to get out of the dungeon, but the hallway just seemed like it stretched out for miles. Well, it didn't really, but at that point I was pretty impatient about leaving. Every time I was in a place like that I would end up getting beat up or blown up.

I finally made it to the end, and there was a bright flash of light that forced me to shut my eyes for a second. When I opened them again, I became witness to a scene that would be etched into my mind for days to come.

Everyone was dying.

In the incredibly spacious chamber, made from the same stone that lined the corridors, I saw a large band of soldiers lay bleeding on the floor. The viscous red liquid was seeping through the cracks in the tiles, and the dying moans of the people who had apparently been fighting were all barely audible to me, but at the same time, so prominent.

"What happened here?" I whispered. I scanned the room again, and I looked to see a face that I had not expected to find in this dungeon. I quickly ran over to where his body lay, clutching a stab wound on his stomach.

"Eliwood," I whispered, kneeling next to the red-haired lord. "Hey, Eliwood, can you hear me?"

The poor guy was hanging on to dear life, and I could barely understand his incoherent mumbling at first, but when I moved closer, it was a bit more clear.

"... They are... too strong... too organized... Mother... Father... Please... forgive me... P-Please..."

"Eliwood?" I whispered, gently shaking him. "Hey, Eliwood?" And at that, his arm, the one clutching his wound, fell to the ground with a gentle thud. I fell over and crawled backward a few steps. I knew what that meant. I knew it all too well. Eliwood was dead.

"No way..." I whispered. "What the... What the hell happened here? I... Oh god... This is..."

I managed to look around, and saw some other familiar faces among the deceased. Hector, Marcus, Oswin, and Lowen were all sprawled out around the floor, and many others were lying face-down in their own blood. It was too much. I had seen too much. I wanted nothing more than to leave that hellish place. But, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed.

"My Lord, it is done."

I looked over toward the end of the chamber. On top of a set of stairs was a man in a large cloak. His face was obscured by shadow, but his presence was nothing short of imposing. In front of him were several kneeling figures, also obscured by shadow. However, I recognized one, and only one. His orange hair seemed to actually flicker under the small torchlight, and his black cape was stained with the blood of my friends.

"Well done, Darius," said the cloaked man. "Your tactical mind is truly one of legend. Now, with the death of the children of Lycia, we have won. The Dragon's Gate will be opened, and Elibe will belong to us. On this day, the Black Fang has prevailed!"

The shadowed figures rose one by one, and I suddenly heard a rumbling in the background. The chamber began to collapse, and a deafening screech echoed through it, and a bright white light engulfed the area...

* * *

I jolted awake, gasping for breath. As soon as my mouth opened, I started choking. I was completely unable to take a breath until I felt a strang hand pat me on the back, and I was able to cough out the water in my lungs.

"Easy there, mate, you'll be fine. Those Black Fang curs are all gone now."

I looked to see Dart's face smiling at me. His hand was on my back, meaning he was the one who knocked that last bit of water out of my lungs. I took a look at my surroundings, and found that I was on the deck of the Davros.

"I... I'm alive..." I whispered.

"That move worked so well on you earlier, I thought I'd give it a shot," the pirate smiled.

"How?" I asked. "I was hit by that spell..."

"And you tumbled into the sea," said another familiar voice. "I had to jump in after you when I came aboard."

"Fargus?" I asked. "You... You saved me."

"You're one of me mates now, laddie," smiled the old pirate captain. "And I always take care of me mates."

"I'm starting to believe that now," said Eliwood, who was standing over me. "Thank you."

"Eliwood, you're okay!" I exclaimed.

"We all are," the red-haired lord smiled. I looked to see everyone kneeling close to me, to see if I was alright. They were presumably there waiting to see if I would wake up after nearly drowning. The looks of relief on their faces are hard to describe, but let's just say some of them were in tears.

One in particular ended up running over and embracing my completely soaked body.

"Oh, sweet Mother Earth, you're alright!"

"L-Lyn..." I started, but her hug tightened.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and I could feel the warm tears on my cheek. "I... I should have protected you."

"Hey, d-don't blame yourself," I told her. "Really, it wasn't your fault." I uneasily lifted my arms to return the embrace, and this time, I didn't care how much I was blushing. Though I'm pretty sure it was hot enough to evaporate some of the tears. I was just happy that I was alive to feel her arms around me.

"Alright, laddie, you can have some time with your girl soon as we get you in some dry rags," chuckled Fargus. "Oy, Jake! Bring the lad a blanket!"

Jake did as he was told, and he and Lyn wrapped it around my body. I immediately felt warmer.

"Let's get you to the cabin," said Jake. "There's a dry change of clothes in there."

"Sounds good," I smiled. Lyn and Eliwood helped me up, and we made our way toward the cabins that Sain and Kent spent so much effort protecting. As soon as we reached them, another familiar figure made its way onto the deck, moving clumsily toward our group.

"Ah! Ninian! You can't come out yet! There's blood everywhere!" said Lyn, letting me go to help the pale-haired dancer.

"...Blood?" asked Ninian quietly. She stumbled a bit after saying that word.

"Look out!" said Eliwood, catching her.

"...Ah! I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Are you okay?" asked the red-haired lord. "Ninian?"

The dancer looked at Eliwood with her large red eyes. "Ninian?" she asked. "Is that... me? Is that... my name?"

Lyn gasped. "Ninian! What's happened to you?"

"...I..." she started, and then put her hand on her temple. "My head... is so foggy. Am I... at sea?"

"Yes. We found you adrift in a small boat," Lyn told her.

"Those scum were after the girl, it seems," said Fargus. The pirate captain heaved a sigh before he continued. "Will you take her with you? The men are afraid she, well, she might be cursed, you know?"

"Cursed?" asked Hector.

"Are you suggesting we leave Ninian behind?" Lyn said as she shot the pirate captain a glare.

"We can't take her with us, can we?" asked Hector. "We're heading for the Dread Isle. It's dread for a reason, you know!"

"Regardless..." Lyn looked at the girl Eliwood was carrying, who was still not fully there. "She goes with us!"

"Lyndis?" asked Eliwood.

"The last time I saw Ninian... She and her brother were being hunted by some dark-robed men," said Lyn.

"Dark-robed?" asked Hector. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," said Lyn. "It was the Black Fang." She looked at me as she said this, and I nodded in agreement. "It had occured to me before, but now I'm certain."

"How can you be sure?" asked Eliwood.

"I can't explain..." said Lyn. "There's something in the air that hints at their involvement."

"If it's true, then she's likely to be attacked again," said Eliwood.

Lyn nodded. "Almost certainly. We can't leave her behind. I will watch over her. Please..."

Eliwood smiled. "I understand. We should be by her side to protect her."

"Thank you," Lyn said as she returned the smile.

Eliwood looked at the girl in his arms, who was looking at him intently. "We're all going to that island," he told her. "Will you come with us?"

"Y-Yes..." Ninian replied. "Please... take me with you..." And with that, she lay her head on Eliwood's shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Night came soon enough. Everyone basically told me to get some rest after everything that had happened today, so I sat alone in my bunk, staring out the window at the starry night sky overlooking the ocean. Admittedly, it was very soothing to just watch the gentle waves after a hard battle, with nothing but the slow creaking of the ship, the flickering of the candle, and the ocean noise reaching my ears. I really could have just dozed off to the ambience.

"Sean?"

I looked to see Lyn standing at the entrance to the room with a small bowl in her hand. "I brought you some soup from the galley. I thought you might be hungry."

"Y-Yeah," I replied. "I am. Thanks." She smiled and sat down next to me. She gathered a spoonful of soup and held it toward my mouth. I felt my face heat up. "I-I can feed myself."

"I wasn't questioning your ability to eat," Lyn chuckled, before letting out a small sigh. "I was simply worried that you may not have the strength to. You did nearly die today."

"Yeah," I sighed. "Sorry."

"You shouldn't apologize," she told me. "I watched you when you had to fend for yourself. You were able to outwit several shamans and damage their ship in the process. I really was very impressed."

"I... thanks..." I said, probably blushing like hell. "B-But, I don't really deserve any admiration from you. I really shouldn't have been on that ship in hte first place. I got knocked off Huey and wound up there. I just did what I could to survive. And in the end, I got careless and let Zoldam hit me with that stupid spell. So... I'm sorry that I worried you again. I know how much you hate that."

Lyn sat there with a contemplative look on her face before she spoke again. "I was discussing something about you with Eliwood earlier. About how you always join us on the battlefield although you do not fight. We... think it may be best to change that."

I paused. Did she really say what I think she just said? "Are... are you saying that you don't want me with you on the battlefield? Am I being a burden?"

"No, of course not!" Lyn replied defensively. "I know better than anyone how well you do as a tactician, and how important you are to our success. And I told you last year: you were never a burden. To me or anyone else." The Sacaen set the bowl of soup on the ground, and put her hand on top of mine. "But, Eliwood proposed that it may be a good idea for you to give us a strategy before a battle, and then hide with Merlinus and Hannah. We will follow your plans, of course, but you will be much safer away from the fighting."

"Not going to happen," I told her. "I'm still coming with you guys."

Lyn blinked. "That was a much faster reply than I was anticipating."

I smiled a bit at that. "Look, I know that whole thing with the shamans could have been handled better today. I would've been completely out of danger if I had just stayed out of sight. But, when I'm with you all, I can adapt my strategies to suit different situations. Plus, I'd personally feel a lot better actually seeing you guys execute my plans. Also... I have a feeling that I need to be with all of you. I need to be with you or... I'll regret it forever."

I trailed off toward the end of that, because I didn't want to say what I was really thinking. _If I'm not with you, Darius will kill you all_. I didn't know at the time whether that scene where I saw everyone die was a vision of the future or just some hallucination of my dying mind, but it was real enough to me. I swore that I would not let that happen to my friends. I would be with them, and guide them against Darius.

"Somehow, I knew you would disagree," smiled Lyn. "No, I will not stop you from what you are doing. But, I swear that I will protect you with my life." It was about this point where I realized how close her face was to mine. "Sean, my master tactician."

"Lyn, my peerless warrior." I seriously said that reply without thinking. It's like those two phrases have become completely connected in my brain. I guess that we've said those enough that they really were always going to be said together.

I didn't have time to think much further before Lyn leaned forward and kissed me. I was a bit disoriented, honestly, but that didn't stop Lyn from leaning even more, pushing me to lay down on the bed with our lips still connected. Eventually, I was fully laying on my back, while Lyn was still in a sitting position, but was completely leaning over me. I honestly have no good way of describing the feeling, apart from 'amazing'. I never wanted it to end.

The candle flickered out, leaving me and Lyn to be illuminated only by the starry night sky through the window. For that moment, we were only living in each other's presence, completely forgetting about where we were heading.

We would be reminded of it the following day, when we arrived at the shores of the Dread Isle.

* * *

_A/N: End chapter! Man, that took way too freaking long to write!_

_I mentioned in the end of the previous chapter that the story would start getting quite a bit darker from this point on. Well, now I wrote my first dying scene! Doesn't get much darker than that. Now, I should put in a disclaimer that I have never had a near-death experience or know what it actually feels like to wake up after drowning, so please take my description of it with a grain of salt. However, I hope that I've captured the fear that Sean felt after being hit with a freaking Luna spell by Zoldam, who is considered a pretty difficult boss in this_ _stage of the game. If my writing is as as good as I hope it is, that scene should have been a shocking one, where the music comes to an abrupt stop and it takes a second to register what the hell just happened. Maybe I'm hoping for too much...  
_

_Regarding that scene, I seriously wanted to end the chapter there and leave it as a cliffhanger, just like I did with the penultimate chapter of the first Trials story. But then there was the problem of this still being the middle of the story and there being some kind of important dialogue afterward, and having Sean unconscious for that would have just sucked. So, instead of having him wake up from a coma in the following chapter, I just resolved it right away. I just really hope it didn't seem rushed, because it actually kind of was...  
_

_The scene where Sean dreams that everyone was dying was actually one of my ideas for Chapter 1 of Minds of Legend, but I had decided to save it for another time. Did it come out of nowhere? Yes. But I think it worked out for the best. Is it important? Well, it's relevant to the spin I'm taking on this story. Like I said when I started on Trials, this story will follow the story of FE7, but this addition to it is something for even the most hardened veterans of the GBA game will want to look out for. It's not much now, but it will build up, and the result is something that I have yet to see come out of any Fire Emblem fanfic. Believe me, it's going to be good._

_That's all I really have to say about this chapter. Hope it was enjoyable, and please leave a review!  
_


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